It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dairy cow in California. It should be noted first and foremost that BSE or, “Mad Cow Disease”, is not transmitted to humans through cow’s milk.
The cow with BSE was discovered through routine screening. The disease is caused by a prion. Prions are proteins which are folded incorrectly. Prions are responsible for BSE in cows, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans. The diseases have similarities, but are distinctly different diseases.
CJD is rare in humans. Eating brain and nerve matter from a cow with BSE may cause a variant of CJD. Routine screening and import & export bans prevent cows with BSE to enter the food supply. While BSE was prevalent in the 1980s in the UK, it has been drastically reduced with screening, culling, not feeding the cows blended meat, and trade restrictions.
Kouts School Nurse 