Case of BSE, or Mad Cow, found in California

A cow in California was diagnosed with BSE, or Mad Cow. This is the fourth documented case of BSE in a cow in the US.

It poses no real risk to the US food supply.

The cow, more than 30 months old of age, had died and was to be rendered. Because the cow died, it was tested for BSE. Analysis resulted in what is being called an atypical case, and thus is believed to have occurred spontaneously through a mutation.

BSE is a neurological disease causing brain and spinal cord degeneration. It is caused by a prion which is misfolded protein, that aggregates in the brain to form plagues. These prions can arise in animals that have a specific gene variant, and then this disease can be transmitted to other animals that come in contact with infected tissue of the diseased animal. This transmission occurs because the infectious prion causes a protein in the normal animal’s brain to deform into the infectious state.

BSE in cows has been a problem in the past when animal byproducts were used to supplement animal feed. In the UK more than 180,000 cows may have been infected (starting in 1986) and resulted in as many as 165 people dying within 10 years afterward (up to 2009). In humans, the CJD variant can occur when people consume infected tissue.  

The practice of feeding animal by-products to ruminants is banned in the United States. Additionally, the US has an active monitoring system for all suspect animals and older animals as well as controls for the removal of SRMs (specific risk materials), including spinal and brain tissue, during slaughter.


New case of mad cow disease in California

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/20120424_ap_newcaseofmadcowdiseaseincalifornia.html?page=2&c=y
SAM HANANEL and LAURAN NEERGAARD
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The first new case of mad cow disease in the U.S. since 2006 has been discovered in a dairy cow in California, but health authorities said Tuesday the animal never was a threat to the nation's food supply.

The infected cow, the fourth ever discovered in the U.S., was found as part of an Agriculture Department surveillance program that tests about 40,000 cows a year for the fatal brain disease.

No meat from the cow was bound for the food supply, said John Clifford, the department's chief veterinary officer.

"There is really no cause for alarm here with regard to this animal," Clifford told reporters at a hastily convened news conference.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is fatal to cows and can cause a fatal human brain disease in people who eat tainted beef. The World Health Organization has said that tests show that humans cannot be infected by drinking milk from BSE-infected animals.