Mad Cow Disease is one of the few transmissible diseases that can affect humans, although direct transmission isn’t possible. It is a fatal brain disease and is known to cause the variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease, which causes the same symptoms and end result. It is spread through the recycling of cow carcasses back into the livestock’s food supply. The bones are ground up to create protein and then this is fed to the cow. In cows and humans, the disease causes deficits in movement, behavioral changes, and memory disturbances.
Statistics About Mad Cow Disease
1. Eating the muscle tissue of a cow infected does not cause an increased risk of CJD development. It comes from eating the spinal, nervous, or brain tissues of an infected animal.
2. About 85% of the cases of human CJD are considered sporadic, with no known cause behind the development.
3. The number of people who have died because of CJD in the United States: 4.
4. Only four cows in the US have ever been known to be infected with Mad Cow Disease.
5. The number of cases of Mad Cow Disease that have been reported in Canada: 19.
6. In Great Britain, it is believed that over 180,000 cattle have been infected and destroyed because of Mad Cow Disease.
7. The prions that cause Mad Cow Disease are extremely hardy, able to survive in heat that exceeds 1,700F.
8. In 2011, there were only 29 cases of the disease reported around the world, which is a 99% decrease from the record high of 37k cases in 1992.
9. Milk and milk products are not believed to pose any risk for transmitting mad cow disease to humans.
10. The first person to develop symptoms of what turned out to be CJD became ill in January 1994.
11. Symptoms typically don’t start showing up until several years after infection, sometimes taking nearly a decade to appear.
12. By October 2010, a total of 222 definite and probable variant CJD cases had been reported worldwide in residents of 12 countries.
13. Almost five million cattle have been slaughtered to stop the spread of Mad Cow Disease.
14. Mad Cow Disease is sometimes thought to be a variant of a similar disease that affects sheep called Scrapie.
15. In 2010, only 11 infected cattle were registered in the United Kingdom.
16. There are two identified strains of Mad Cow Disease and the atypical strain is believed to occur spontaneously, as it appeared to do in the fourth US case of the disease.
17. In Canada, the chances of a cow having this disease are 3 to 8 per 1 million livestock.
18. In the United States, the chances of an infected cow being in any given herd: 0.167 per 1 million.
Scarcity of Mad Cow Disease
The good news is that Mad Cow Disease is a rather rare occurrence. When it is found, the animals are destroyed immediately and then the carcasses is immediately disposed of properly so that the disease cannot enter into the food chain further. It was first discovered in 1986 in Great Britain and since then, the epidemic continued on for several years. At its peak, more than 1,000 new cases of Mad Cow Disease were being reported per week in 1993.
Despite knowledge of the disease and how it functioned, the banning of spinal cord and brain tissues in cattle feed did not occur until 1997. It took another 6 years for the USDA to announce that downer cattle beef wouldn’t be allowed within the human food chain. If a US case of Mad Cow Disease hadn’t been detected, it is doubtful that these changes would have occurred. By 2008, after several additional cases, a live testing method of determining if a cow has the disease was finally developed.
It is very understandable why there is so much concern for Mad Cow Disease. Because it is 100% fatal in livestock and humans, there are no alternatives. The risk factor moves to stopping the spread of the disease at that point and isolating the infected parties. By knowing the statistics and facts about this disease, however, you can put many of your fears to rest.
Common Misconceptions and Understanding
Because there is a lot of fear that surrounds this disease, there are a lot of misconceptions about it. The simple fact is that most people are not going to get CJD, even when exposed to an infected cow.
Mad Cow Disease is caused by a prion, which isn’t a virus, but a protein that acts like a virus. Not much is known about this protein, other than the fact that it is a rather unusual transmissible agent. The only real theory that scientists have is that some agent within the body will transform the normal protein into a prion protein. Once that happens, then damage to the Central Nervous System can occur and you’ve got Mad Cow Disease on your hands.
Outside of Great Britain, Mad Cow Disease is incredibly rare. Even Canadian cases have been linked to cattle that were either important from Great Britain directly or were important cattle that gave birth to a calf that was eventually infected. The United States cases were either linked to imported cattle or were thought to have originated from a genetic or non-specific variant.
Sometimes meat is recalled out of an abundance of safety and there are often cattle that are slaughtered when another cow in the herd is diagnosed with the disease just so everyone and other animals can be safe. The simple fact is this: you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you do catching CJD from eating an infected cow. Even if you do accidentally consume nervous tissues from an infected cow, it may take multiple consumption sequences for the infection to occur. When it does, it can take up to a decade for the first symptoms to show up.
Go ahead and enjoy that steak. Just maybe avoid having a side of cow brains to be safe so you protect yourself from any Mad Cow Disease related symptoms.