Mad Cow Disease Research Paper

Proteinaceous Infectious Particles, commonly known as Prions, are extremely rare misfolds of the protein PrPc, which cause fatally neurodegenerative diseases, and are theorized to be infectious only by the protein itself (U.S National Library of Medicine, 1998). This “protein-only theory” is still heavily debated today, as some scientists deny the theory, and there isn’t a significant amount of evidence on each side to qualify the theory or disprove it (Soto, C. 2011). The base “Prion” protein is encoded in the gene PRNP, while being non-infectious. Prions are most commonly found in human prion diseases, but they can also be in other animals in the form of Mad Cow Disease and Chronic Wasting Disease, classified as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathies

Mad cow disease is to serious and deadly that it is not worth the risk of eating beef from a feedlot. Michael Pollan stated, "Mad cow is a brain disease that is always fatal. It is spread by eating the brains of infected animals" (56). Clearly mad cow disease will kill anyone that gets infected so it is not worth the risk to eat CAFO beef. In addition, "Ground-up cattle brains were put into cattle feed and some of those cows got mad cow disease. Human beings who ate infected beef also got the disease..." (Pollan and Chevat 56). This shows how completely unnatural CAFOs are and why people should not eat or buy CAFO meat. It also illustrates just how dangerous mad cow disease is; that people should be cautious by boycotting CAFO beef. However, an author for the Los Angeles Times, Paul Roberts said, “there has never been a confirmed case of mad cow disease connected with anyone eating U.S. beef" (Rodgers). Evidently getting mad cow disease in the U.S. is unlikely. Pollan retaliated by saying "Then people in England began dying of a sickness called mad cow disease" (55-56). This shows that although people have not eaten infected beef in the U.S. they have in other places. Therefore if people want to stay safe then they should not eat the beef produced in CAFOs so that they do not get mad cow

     Mad Cow Disease, scientifically referred to as (BSE) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, is a disease that affects those humans who eat the meat from infected cows. Mad Cow Disease is one of several fatal brain diseases called (TSE) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy. (USDA) There was evidence of a new illness resembling the sheep disease scrapie. It was technically named BSE but quickly acquired the mad cow tag because of the way infected cattle behave. (CNN) In 1997, there was an award given to Stanley Prusiner, for concluding that a distorted protein called a prion was responsible for Mad Cow Disease, noted the long incubation period made it difficult to distinguish (Bryant).

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With this being said, mad-cow disease is also always fatal. Any cow that has ever been diagnosed with mad-cow disease has died from the disease. I, personally, am surprised that doctors have not been able to at least slow down the effects of this disease. So, without needing to be said, mad-cow disease is a cow’s biggest nightmare.

What is Mad Cow Disease? Mad Cow Disease "is a normally extremely rare neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system of an animal and a human. The disease infested brain of the animal or human is slowly, progressively, and severely damaged. It has been categorized as a disease, which falls into the category of a disease known as Spongiform Encephalopathy. Having Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is an over-dramatized way of specifying that one has diseased brain tissue which is; spongy, porous, and no

According to WebMD, Mad Cow Disease is fatal, resulting in the destruction of the brain and spinal cord*. Humans can get the human form of Mad Cow disease through eating nerve tissue of cows that had the disease*. However, the gelatin used in breath mints, if from cows, is comprised of cattle bones and hides, both of which have a low risk of transmitting the disease according to Clemson University**. So while it is possible, people should not live in fear of getting Mad Cow Disease from breath mints. This is due to how the FDA has guidelines in place to try to prevent spreading the disease. Again, Clemson University stated that the FDA suggests that no part of a cow with any neurological disease is used in production of gelatin**. To prevent

However, differing from the other diseases, Prion sometimes spreads through contaminated meat. In the article “Prion Diseases” it shows meats that have mad cow disease can cause prion disease. Intake of unhealthy meat is not infectious since the spread is not direct. Moreover, like Alzheimer’s, transferals through medical procedures may cause the gain of Prion Disease. Prion disease can be the result of a transfusion with a person with the disease. Furthermore, many things may take a toll on the spread of Prion disease, but it is not

BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, otherwise known as mad cow disease refers to the changes seen in brain tissue of affected cows. This disease is normally found in adult cows and it slowly but aggressively affects their central nervous system. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continuingly does testing on US cattle to prevent this disease from spreading to human consumers. There are several ways the disease can affect the human body, there are ways we can treat it, but most importantly there are ways we can prevent it.

Mad Cow Disease Bovine spongiform encephalophathy ( BSE), which is mainly known as mad cow disease has infected the society and has put the lives of individuals at risk. This was very frightening to the people that ate meat during that time. The terrified people would not even want to eat hamburgers at MacDonald, steak at restaurant and much more. What also alarmed the people was the fact that there was a possibility of getting the human form of mad cow disease. This was called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) which is through tainted blood, but this was only a theory which

-B Spread from pigs to humans by saliva, feces and nasal secretions from infected pigs

Creutzfedlt-Jakob Disease(CJD) is a rare, non-treatable, and fatal brain disorder caused by a prion, a pathogen that is smaller than a virus. The causative agent of Creutzfedlt-Jakob Disease is very difficult, almost impossible to destory. The casusative agent is a clear watery fluid that fills the space between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater. Per year, Creutzfedlt-Jakob Disease effects one in every one million people worldwide, in the United States there are around 300 cases. There are 3 catagories of Creutzfedlt-Jakob Disease; The most common being sporadic CJD(the disease appears even though the person has no common risk factors for CJD), Hereditary CJD, and the least common acquired CJD(caused by exposure to the brain or nervous

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by a unique infectious agent called prion. It is neither a virus or bacteria and is not even a living organism but purely a protein that infects the brain causing neuro-degradation and eventually death. CJD is the human disorder from a family of prion diseases which have also been found in animals such as sheep called Scrapie Disease, cattle known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, and deer named Chronic Wasting Disease (Anderson, Salm, Allen, 2016, p.356). Researchers found that this prion disease is caused by a misfolding of a normal prion-related protein, PrPc. These normal proteins are genetically synthesized proteins normally found on surfaces of neurons. While there are still uncertainties about the functions of these normal PrPc proteins, there is some evidence that it is

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are neurodegenerative diseases that are thought to be caused by the misfolding of prion proteins. Prions are able to replicate in the absence of nucleic acids. TSEs include: scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease, and Fatal Familial Insomnia. They can affect many different animals, including humans. Currently, there are no ways to diagnose, treat, or cure TSEs, as much more research is needed before these diseases are completely understood.

Although diseases which begin in the animal kingdom do not normally affect human beings, there has been a worrisome trend in favor of cross-species contamination. According to the CDC, the majority of human cases of avian influenza have been individuals who have worked with poultry, often in the developing world where proper sanitary practices are not observed (CDC 2015). Transmission of avian flu between humans versus between birds and humans is less common but given the mutability of influenza A, this is being closely monitored by world health organizations. As many as 65% of commonly-identified pathogens (including swine flu as well) are classified by scientists as “zoonotic” or