Can humans get mad cow disease from cows?
• The risk to human health from BSE in the United States is extremely low. • Evidence indicates that BSE has been transmitted to humans primarily in the United Kingdom, causing a variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) – a neurological and fatal illness in humans which appears with psychiatric symptoms (abnormal behavior), sensory symptoms, and other neurologic abnormalities such as difficulty maintaining balance when walking, dementia or decreased memory, muscle jerking, and an abnormal EEG (brain electrical activity test). • Evidence indicates that transmission is through human consumption of infected nerve tissue. It is not yet completely known if ingestion of cow meat/muscle only can lead to human infection but there is no evidence that the disease is transmitted through consumption of dairy products. • o However, in the United Kingdom where over 1 million cattle may have been infected with BSE, there have been relatively few cases of vCJD. As of December 1, 2003, a total
