BSE: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease

 

 

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called 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 protein known as prion protein. For reasons that are not yet understood, the normal prion protein changes into a pathogenic (harmful) form that then damages the central nervous system of cattle.

 

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

In Cattle

CDC: BSE Page

CDC: BSE Search Page

BSEInfo.org

Wikipedia

 

vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease)

In Humans

CDC: vCJD Page

 

 

Country Reporting

Country

Cattle Inventory

Cases

United States

102,000,000

3

Canada

14.000,000

17

United Kingdom

11,000,000

183,840

France

20,000,000

900

Spain

6,200,000

412

Germany

14,000,000

312

Japan

4,400,000

26

Italy

7,000,000

138

Belgium

 

133

Denmark

 

14

Portugal

 

875

Ireland

6,600,000

1350

Poland

 

21

Netherlands

4,100,000

85

Switzerland

 

453

No Reported Cases

Some Countries Do Not Share Information

Brazil

187,000,000

 

Australia

29,000,000

 

Argentina

51,000,000

 

India

281,000,000

 

China

139,000,000

 

Mexico 26,000,000  
Russia 18,500,000  
     

 

 

 

 

The information in this table has been collected from various sources. Including USDA, FDA,

Wikipedia, FAS-USDA. Not all figures are up to date.