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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

  • 02 March, 2023

  • 5 Min Read

Mad Cow Disease

Mad Cow Disease

  • After a case of Mad Cow Disease was identified in the northern state of Para, Brazil has stopped exporting beef to China.

Mad Cow Disease: What Is It?

  • Commonly known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), this lethal virus affects the adult cattle's central nervous system and is degenerative, contagious, slowly progressing, and fatal.

Causes:

  • A prion protein, which is typically located on cell surfaces, is what causes BSE when it transforms into a dangerous, aberrant form.

  • The brain and spinal cord's nervous system tissue is destroyed by these proteins after they are changed.
  • The aberrant prion is completely unknown to the ill cow's body. The disease cannot be fought off by the cow's body if it is unaware that it is there.

Transmission:

  • A cow contracts BSE after consuming feed tainted with animal byproducts from another cow that has the disease.

Symptoms:

  • Incoordination is a typical symptom of BSE in cows. A sick cow has problems standing and walking, and she could also act agitated or aggressively.
  • It usually takes four to six years from the time a cow is infected with the abnormal prion to when it first shows symptoms of BSE. This is called the incubation period. During the incubation period, there is no way to tell that a cow has BSE by looking at it.
  • A cow usually succumbs to the illness within two weeks to six months of first exhibiting signs.
  • BSE has no known cure, and there is no vaccine to protect against it.

Source: Times Of India


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03 Dec,2025

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