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Mad cow disease
Mad cow disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is an aberrant pathology of the central nervous system in cows leading to the brain becoming spongy in appearance. In other words, a particular protein no longer folds correctly and the brain loses it's shape and becomes spongy due to holes that form in it. BSE and the forms of spongiform encephalopathy seen in other mammals are now known to be caused, at least in part, by prions. Prions are proteins that normally occur in the body, but sporadically undergo some form of conformational change and are no longer able to fulfill their structural function. Prions are not destroyed by heat or chemicals and inoculation with a prion causes more of the proteins in the body to becomes prions! There is some speculation that Alzheimer's may be a prion disease. First seen in sheep in Europe in the 18th century, it was called Scrapie. In the 1950s a human form was seen in the Kuru tribe of New Guinea, who are believed to pass on the prions, and thus the disease, by eating the brains of their deceased. It was later found that another human form, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), occurs sporadically at a very low rate in the population due to improper protein folding. In the 1960s, the disease was found in elk in the United States and less than 20 years later in cows in Britain. The fear of mad cow disease lies in its transmission to humans from eating infected meat. Prions are resistant to heat and there is little known about them. Proper butchering techniques, preventing the nervous system organs and those known to contain the prions from coming into contact with the edible parts, should be enough to prevent the spread. An increase in the rate of CJD in Britain has raised questions about the extent of our knowledge. Cows that exhibit any of the symptoms of the disease are supposed to be removed from the food chain and incinerated. For more information visit Maeflowers.
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Contributor's Note
Yes, I do eat beef. I had some really great hamburgers just the other night!
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http://maeflowers.com/madcow.html
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This intel was contributed by AliciaMae
AliciaMae
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May, 2012
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