mad cow disease 3 letters?, Mad cow disease, also known as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), is caused by prions which are abnormal proteins. It is a neurological disorder that occurs in cattle and can lead to severe brain degeneration. Although the number of cases has declined significantly since the peak of the epidemic in the 1990s, it remains a concern for the livestock industry and public health.
Prions are proteins that occur normally in the body, but under certain circumstances they can misfold and become harmful to the nervous system. The exact origin of BSE is not fully understood, but it is suspected to be caused by feeding beef and bone meal from other infected cattle. This allows abnormal prions to enter food and spread among animals.
The disease can go unnoticed for years before symptoms such as behavioral changes, coordination problems and weight loss appear. As the disease progresses, cattle become increasingly weaker and show signs of neurological impairment.
The BSE epidemic had considerable consequences for the meat industry and public health. People who ate the contaminated meat developed a human form of the disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which can be fatal. In response to the crisis, many countries have put in place stricter regulations to prevent the spread of BSE and ensure food safety.
Nowadays, preventive measures are taken to minimize the spread of BSE. This includes banning the use of meat and bone meal in animal feed and testing livestock for the presence of disease. These efforts have dramatically reduced the number of BSE cases, making the livestock industry safer for humans and animals.