Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy :: Biology Cattle Disease Essays

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( mad cow malady) is a relatively new disease raiseprimarily in cattle. This disease of the bovine breed was initiative seen in theUnited Kingdom in November 1986 by histopathological examination of affectedbrains (Kimberlin, 1993) . From the first discovery in 1986 to 1990 thisdisease developed into a large-scale epidemic in most of the United Kingdom,with very serious economic consequences (Moore, 1996). mad cow disease primarily occurs in adult cattle of both male and womanly genders.The most common age at which cows may be affected is between the ages of fourand five (Blowey, 1991). Due to the fact that bovine spongiform encephalitis is a neurological disease, itis characterized by many distinct symptoms changes in rational state mad-cow,abnormalities of posture, movement, and sensation (Hunter, 1993). The durationof the clinical disease varies with each case, solely most commonly lasts forseveral weeks. BSE continues to progress and is usual ly considered pitch-dark(Blowey, 1991).After extensive research, the pathology of BSE was finally determined.Microscopic lesions in the aboriginal nervous system that consist of a bilaterallysymmetrical, non-inflammatory vacuolation of nervous perikarya and grey-matterneuropil was the scientists overall conclusion (Stadthalle, 1993). Theselesions are consistent with the diseases of the more common scrapie family.Without foster investigation, the conclusion was made that BSE was a new memberof the scrapie family (Westgarth, 1994).contagion of BSE is rather common throughout the cattle industry.After the brooding period of one to two years, experimental transmission wasfound contingent by the injection of brain homogenates from clinical cases(Swanson, 1990). This only confirmed that BSE is caused by a scrapie-likeinfectious agent.How does the transmission become so readily available among the entireUnited Kingdom feedlot population? Studies showed that the mode of transmittingw as meat and bone meal that had been incorpo telld into concentrated feedstuffsas a protein-rich supplement (Glausiusz, 1996). It is thought that the outbreakwas started by a scrapie infection of cattle, alone the subsequent course of theepidemic was driven by the recycling of infected cattle material within thecattle population (Lyall, 1996). Although the average rate of infection is verylow, the reason why this led to such a large number of BSE cases is that much ofthe United Kingdom dairy cattle population was exposed for many, continuousyears (Kimberlin, 1993).To help swear the outbreak, the British government in 1988 introduceda ban on the alimentation of ruminant protein to other ruminant animals (Lacey, 1995).Such knowledge for the pathogenesis of the BSE disease shows precisely theactions that must be taken in order to conquer and minimize the risk of