BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (MAD COW DISEASE)

BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (MAD COW DISEASE)


Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, is a progressive, neurological disorder of cattle. It was first discovered in the United Kingdom in 1986. It has been suggested that BSE is a mutated form of scrapie, seen in sheep and goats, which has been around for centuries. The appearance in cattle may be related to feeding contaminated sheep and/or goat-derived protein supplements to cattle. The word “spongiform” in the name refers to the fact that when an animal dies of BSE its brain is full of holes, like a sponge.



MORBIDITY: +




MORTALITY: ++++




ETIOLOGY: PRION


BSE is caused by a poorly understood protein called a prion. When BSE prions are transmitted to humans, the resulting disease is known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Different prions cause scrapie in sheep and goats, chronic wasting disease in mule deer and elk, feline spongiform encephalopathy, and other neurological diseases in humans.


A prion cannot be classified as bacterial or viral. It is a modified form of a normal component of a cell surface, known as a prion-related protein, or PrP. Prion diseases, as a group, are also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) because they cause a variety of diseases, all characterized by progressive, degenerative, neurological disorders that are always fatal.


Prions appear to multiply by converting normal protein molecules into pathogenic ones by inducing the normal molecules to change their shape.


Prion diseases are distinguished by incubation periods measured in years, characteristic spongiform changes in the brain, and lack of an inflammatory response.

Related posts:

  1. ABOUT THE DISEASES
  2. BRUCELLOSIS
  3. EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS
  4. LEPTOSPIROSIS

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Oct 1, 2016 | Posted by in EXOTIC, WILD, ZOO | Comments Off on BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (MAD COW DISEASE)

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