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Mad Cow Disease
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Mad Cow Disease is one of a series of prion diseases - fatal neurological diseases caused by an [abnormal confirmation] of the prion protein. Prion diseases have been known to occur for about 300 years, first occurring in sheep in a condition called scrapie, although the cause was unknown at the time. Prion diseases have now been described in a number of animals, including cows, cats, deer, elk, and others. In humans, it causes Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), which occurs spontaneously in 1 in 1 million persons but can ... be passed on genetically.
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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, is a disease that affects the brains of cattle. The disease was discovered in Britain and is the result of infectious prions (proteins) in the cow’s brain. According to experts, Mad Cow occurs when a cow eats infectious proteins (infected feed), but only if they are susceptible genetically. Only one animal, out of the 35 million slaughtered in the United States every year, has been infected with BSE.
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"Mad Cow Disease" actually refers to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a disease in cattle which is related to a disease in humans called new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD). Both disorders are fatal brain diseases caused by a prion - a protein particle that lacks nucleic acid and is believed to be the cause of various infectious diseases of the nervous system. From 1995 to 2000, a total of 79 human cases of nvCJD were reported in the United Kingdom, three cases in France, and one case in Ireland. It is believed that the agent that causes human deaths from nvCJD is the same agent that causes outbreaks of BSE in cattle. However, scientists have been unable to determine the specific foods, if any, that are responsible for transmitting the disease from cattle to humans.
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The topic of Mad Cow Disease dominates the media and everyday conversations, as sales of beef have dropped as much as 60% in many countries. The butcher shops are empty; schools, restaurants, and daycare centers removed beef from their menus; militaries destroyed troop rations containing meat and sausage; and cosmetics and candy containing rendered products were scrutinized. In Germany, Spain, and elsewhere, ministers of health and agriculture came under fire for negligence as citizen lawsuits began. Banning wars have erupted as nations proclaim distrust of each other’s beef supply. Where France proscribed British beef, now Britain and much of Europe is refusing French beef (Italian farmers went so far as to blockage border crossings to insure no French beef comes over). Austria blocked German beef imports, as Poland banned beef from nine European countries.
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Mad Cow Disease has now been discovered in the United States. Given the fact that the USDA only tests one cow out of every 2,000, no one really knows how many of these infected animals may have already entered the human food supply.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating an inconclusive test result for mad cow disease, the agency announced Thursday. Shares of McDonald's fell nearly 1 percent on news of the test.
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Mad Cow Disease