2. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Luke VanNatter Carrie Pell Amy Richwine Scott Inskeep Kristina Anderson

3. BSE - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy “MAD COW DISEASE”  What is it? –Transmissible, slowly progressive, degenerative, fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle –It is characterized by a long incubation period of up to several years (3-8), during which there is no visible incubation of the disease –It is invariable fatal; there is no known treatment of cure –No test can detect prions in a live animal

4. When BSE first occurred in cattle…  First identified in the UK in 1986  Peaked in the UK in January 1993 at almost 1000 new cases per week  The UK has reported more than 180,000 total cases of BSE and about 1,800 cases have been found elsewhere in the Europe

5. How BSE first occurred in cattle…  Rendered feed ingredients contaminated with an infectious agent are believed to be the source of BSE infection in cattle  Some of the feed given to cattle includes ingredients processed from remnants of slaughtered animals, such as meat-and- bone meal, which may harbor the agent that causes BSE

6. Causes  A prion is the most likely cause of B.S.E. A prion is a small protein-like material that incorporates itself into the hosts’ DNA and changes the structure of the alpha-helix.  It is believed B.S.E. was begun by feeding scrapie-infected sheep offal to cattle.

7. Symptoms  Increased apprehension  Poor coordination  Difficulties walking  Weight loss  Agitation  Nervousness

8. Multiple Forms  B.S.E. is related to a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.  CJD  Kuru  Scrapie  TME, CWD, and FSE

9. Prevention  Stop the feeding of rendered animal products to other animals.  Put bans on importation of animals from infected countries.  Establish high monitoring systems.

10. What is the U.S. doing to Prevent BSE?  On July 1989, a ban on importation of live ruminants into the U.S. from United Kingdom was enforced.  Other regulatory methods have been established to prevent importing live animals and meat products from infected and “high risk” countries.

11. What is the U.S. doing to Prevent BSE?  On August 4, 1997, the Food and Drug Administration developed regulations to prevent the feeding of mammalian proteins to ruminants

12. How is the U.S. Monitoring?  The U.S. has done monitoring on cattle in 42 states and has found zero traces of BSE.  Since 1990, there have been 1,250,880,700 cattle raised in the U.S.  Since 1990, 11,700 cattle brains have been checked for BSE.

13. Percent Tested in U.S. 11,700 1,250,880,700 X 100% =.000935%

14. Infected and “High Risk” Countries  United Kingdom  Western Europe  Oman  Romania  Japan

15. Control in the UK  Feed ban  Selective Slaughter  Surveillance Program  Export ban

16. The End