There have been fewer headlines on the BSE problem lately. What are the scientific facts about this disease and what can you say about the current situation?
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is commonly known as “mad cow disease”, a fatal brain disease that affects cattle. BSE is one type of a group of prion diseases referred to as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). TSEs are fatal diseases that cause spongy degeneration of the brain and severe neurological symptoms. The origin of BSE is not yet known. According to one theory, the agent consists of “transmissible misshapen (“rogue”) prions” that are capable of interacting with normal prions (proteins naturally found, mostly in the brain but also in other tissues, of humans and animals) to induce their transformation to “transmissible prions”. Other factors are thought to be involved in the development of BSE and research in this area is continuing. The incidence of BSE has shown a significant decline every year in the UK since the peak of the disease in 1992. In 1999, there were 2274 reported cases. This figure fell to 1355 in 2000 and 1044 in 2002 (see www.oie.int for u
