Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse) is a communicable, chronic, degenerative, and fatal disease that predominantly affects the central nervous system of cattle. Affected animals' brain tissue becomes increasingly damaged by lesions of sponge-like holes that commonly cause animals to exhibit behavioral symptoms such as dementia, aggression, lack of balance, and excessive salivation. As a result, BSE has become more popularly known as “mad cow disease.” During the early 1990s, a “mad cow” epidemic emerged in the United Kingdom (UK) and then spread throughout Europe, decimating beef industries in affected nations and terrifying populaces. While it is believed that the disease has presently leveled off considerably due to stricter [Page 163]livestock testing and policy changes designed to limit BSE's contagious viability, new cases of BSE continue to appear in nations previously unaffected by the disease, such as the United States.

BSE is one of a class of brain diseases classified as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) that are contracted by human and non-human animals. Non-human TSEs also include Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and elk, Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy, Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy, and Scrapie found in goats and sheep. Human TSEs include Kuru, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome, Fatal Familial Insomnia, and CreutzfeldtJakob disease. Notably, in 1996, a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) was diagnosed, and while it has never been proven that BSE directly causes vCJD, many experts now believe that vCJD results when BSE crosses the species barrier and achieves human transmission. Unlike many other infectious diseases that are transmitted by virus or bacteria, TSEs are believed to be caused by misshapen, self-replicating body proteins called prions, and TSEs are spread through contact with prion-infected tissue or fluids, particularly through consumption. Unlike most bacteria and viruses, however, prions are believed to survive normal refrigeration and cooking procedures. Thus, it is believed that vCJD generally occurs after persons have eaten meat infected with BSE.