Transcript Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy
Luke VanNatter
Carrie Pell
Amy Richwine
Scott Inskeep
Kristina Anderson
BSE - Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy
“MAD COW DISEASE”

What is it?
– Transmissible, slowly progressive, degenerative,
fatal disease affecting the central nervous
system of adult cattle
– It is characterized by a long incubation period of
up to several years (3-8), during which there is
no visible incubation of the disease
– It is invariable fatal; there is no known treatment
of cure
– No test can detect prions in a live animal
When BSE first
occurred in cattle…
First identified in the UK in 1986
 Peaked in the UK in January 1993 at
almost 1000 new cases per week
 The UK has reported more than
180,000 total cases of BSE and about
1,800 cases have been found
elsewhere in the Europe

How BSE first occurred
in cattle…


Rendered feed ingredients contaminated
with an infectious agent are believed to be
the source of BSE infection in cattle
Some of the feed given to cattle includes
ingredients processed from remnants of
slaughtered animals, such as meat-andbone meal, which may harbor the agent that
causes BSE
Causes
A prion is the most likely cause of
B.S.E. A prion is a small protein-like
material that incorporates itself into the
hosts’ DNA and changes the structure
of the alpha-helix.
 It is believed B.S.E. was begun by
feeding scrapie-infected sheep offal to
cattle.

Symptoms
Increased apprehension
 Poor coordination
 Difficulties walking
 Weight loss
 Agitation
 Nervousness

Multiple Forms
B.S.E. is related to a group of diseases
known as transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies.
 CJD
 Kuru
 Scrapie
 TME, CWD, and FSE

Prevention
Stop the feeding of rendered animal
products to other animals.
 Put bans on importation of animals
from infected countries.
 Establish high monitoring systems.

What is the U.S. doing
to Prevent BSE?
On July 1989, a ban on importation of
live ruminants into the U.S. from
United Kingdom was enforced.
 Other regulatory methods have been
established to prevent importing live
animals and meat products from
infected and “high risk” countries.

What is the U.S. doing
to Prevent BSE?

On August 4, 1997, the Food and Drug
Administration developed regulations
to prevent the feeding of mammalian
proteins to ruminants
How is the U.S.
Monitoring?
The U.S. has done monitoring on
cattle in 42 states and has found zero
traces of BSE.
 Since 1990, there have been
1,250,880,700 cattle raised in the U.S.
 Since 1990, 11,700 cattle brains have
been checked for BSE.

Percent Tested in U.S.
11,700
1,250,880,700 X
100% = .000935%
Infected and “High
Risk” Countries
United Kingdom
 Western Europe
 Oman
 Romania
 Japan

Control in the UK
Feed ban
 Selective Slaughter
 Surveillance Program
 Export ban

The End