Mad Cow Disease

["Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@UCDAVIS.EDU>]

March 28, 2001

Davis, CA



Mad cow disease, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), is caused by a

weird protein which has been named "prion" that slowly duplicates itself

until is disrupts the brain and spinal tissues. It is not a virus or

bacteria and may not be affected by normal cooking if it is found in meat.

How the first copy was formed is a mystery, but it was propagated by

feeding slaughtered animal parts to other animals or by manufacturing

animal feed utilizing brain and/or spinal tissues or fluids from infected

cattle. There is a possibility it is also in sheep now. 



It is possible to transmit the prion precursor protein to people who eat

the meat containing infected tissues, and results in the human equivalent

of mad cow disease which is called Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD). I guess

eating beef hot dogs would be one way of being exposed because hot dogs are

made with parts of the cow that might contain small quantities of brain or

spinal tissue. 



The kicker is that the incubation period in people varies from 15 to 30

years! I could have been exposed during my last trip to Great Britain and

not develop CJD until 2020.



Otto



**********************************************

Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP

Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health

(Street Address: Bldg. 3792, Old Davis Road) 

University of California, Davis, CA 95616

E-Mail: ograabe@ucdavis.edu

Phone: (530) 752-7754   FAX: (530) 758-6140

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