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Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. [2] Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. [1] Later in the course of the disease, the cow becomes unable to function normally. [1]
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), also known as subacute spongiform encephalopathy or neurocognitive disorder due to prion disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. [ 4 ] [ 1 ] Early symptoms include memory problems, behavioral changes, poor coordination, and visual disturbances. [ 4 ]
In 1992, Canada implemented a national bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program. [3] In a 2011 publication, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) was at pains to stress that the "level and design of BSE testing in Canada has always been, and continues to be, in full accordance with the guidelines recommended by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)."
Cow infected with BSE. The mad cow crisis is a health and socio-economic crisis characterized by the collapse of beef consumption in the 1990s, as consumers became concerned about the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to humans through the ingestion of this type of meat.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy: A collection of diseases all caused by prions, and characterized by "spongy" brain tissue (riddled with holes), impaired locomotion or coordination, and a 100% mortality rate. Includes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), scrapie, and kuru among others.
TSEs in non-human mammals include scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle – popularly known as "mad cow disease" – and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk. The variant form of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans is caused by exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions. [4] [5] [6]
Scrapie and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are caused by prions. [19] Prions were determined to be the infectious agent because transmission is difficult to prevent with heat, radiation and disinfectants, the agent does not evoke any detectable immune response, and it has a long incubation period of between 18 months and 5 years. [20]
Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) [1] is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, [2] as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.