Mad Cow Disease
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Mad Cow Disease
Mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a fatal brain disorder that occurs in cattle. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is caused by some unknown agent and this agent causes the cow's brain cells to die. The unknown agent has not been identified but what they do know is that the agent's size must be smaller that a virus, you can't kill the agent by cooking or freezing because much higher temperatures than those used in cooking are needed, normal chemical disinfectants are not effective for sterilizing surfaces for bacteria and viruses, and the agent does not appear to have genetic information. With these cells dieing off it leaves sponge-like holes in the brain. Some characteristics of cows infected with BSE is lost of weight, they show abnormal behavior such as skittishness, and may even become paralyzed and die. Humans can become infected with BSE by eating food or food by-products that have been contaminated with nervous tissue, or even from instruments that have contacted diseased nervous tissue. After contact the infectious agent enters the brain where it can lie hidden and undeveloped for as long as ten to fifteen years or longer. Then once activated the agent kills brain cells leaving large areas of spongy holes and also leaving large clumps of abnormal prion proteins in cells. It takes less than one year for the disease to run it's course which results in death. Now let's take a closer look at how the prions go through their cycle and end in death...