What is BSE, commonly referred to as mad cow disease?
BSE is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) affecting bovines, commonly known as cattle. Specifically, BSE stands for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. As its name indicates, it causes sponge-like microscopic changes in the brains of cattle, and produces behavior, such as staggering, that gives rise to the name mad cow disease. BSE results when a prion protein becomes abnormally folded. In cattle, these misshapen prions are most concentrated in the brain, spinal cord, and the small intestine.
BSE is the bovine (cattle) form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs): BSE stands for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. As its name indicates, it causes the brains of cattle to become spongy, and it produces behavior such as staggering that gives rise to the name Mad Cow Disease. BSE results when a prion protein becomes abnormally folded. In cattle, these misshapen prions are typically found in the brain, spinal cord, and the small intestine. The disease is believed to have originated in Britain, where it was discovered in 1986 and increased rapidly, peaking in 1992 at more than 3,000 cases per month. It is not contagious. Healthy cattle are infected with BSE when they are fed protein supplemented with BSE-infected animal products. The practice of feeding cattle protein to cattle was banned in Britain in 1988. Feeding certain high-risk cow parts to cattle was banned in the United States in 1997 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), although that ban has been weakly e
