BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy)

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unconventional transmissible agent termed a prion. The nature of the transmissible agent is not well understood. Currently, the most accepted theory is that the agent is a modified form of a normal cell surface component known as prion protein. The pathogenic form of the protein is both less soluble and more resistant to enzyme degradation than the normal form.

Research indicates that the first probable infections of BSE in cows occurred during the 1970's with two cases of BSE being identified in 1986. BSE possibly originated as a result of the feeding of scrapie-containing sheep meat-and-bone meal to cattle. There is strong evidence and general agreement that the outbreak was amplified and spread throughout the UK cattle industry by feeding rendered bovine meat-and-bone meal to young calves.

The BSE epidemic in the United Kingdom peaked in January 1993 at almost 1,000 new cases per week. Through the end of April 2005, more than 184,000 cases of BSE had been confirmed in the United Kingdom alone in more than 35,000 herds.

There has since emerged strong epidemiologic and laboratory evidence for a causal association between variant CJD in humans and the BSE outbreak in cattle. The interval between the most likely period for the initial extended exposure of the population to potentially BSE-contaminated food (1984-1986) and the onset of initial variant CJD cases (1994-1996) is consistent with known incubation periods for the human forms of the disease.

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