How does a cow catch BSE (mad cow)?

[m-jean03]

I thought that a cow had to eat flesh from another cow or animal who had it.
In this case, how could ONLY ONE cow have the disease? Wouldn't every other cow who ate the diseased flesh get it? Or is there another way to transmit it?

Thanks for your help!

[leftchick]

1. because the cattle producers had this great idea of...

grinding up cows(every part) and adding that to the cow feed for extra "protein". Cows eating cows. Pretty simple. More than likely MANY more cows have the disease. I am sure we will see many more cases of CJD in the future as a result.

[veganwitch]

2. mad cow disease

and kruztfeld-jacobs disease (in humans) is cause by prions (kinda like viruses) that are not killed in the rendering process. they only way to get them is to ingest them. prions/mad cow is not an air-born like the flu or other illnesses.

so, somewhere back in the day, a sick cow was rendered and added to cattle feed. then other cows got it and humans ate the meat from those cows.


and the only reason why we havent found mad cow in the US earlier was because we were not effectively testing for it. we would test every 10,000 animals when england and other countries were testing every 1,000 animal.


edit: here's more info http://www.testcowsnow.com/

and i stand corrected. (from testcows)

"While the U.S. tests one cow out of about every 18,000 slaughtered, countries like Japan and Ireland are testing every cow going to market. While the U.S. doubled the total numbers of cows tested to about 4,000 a year in 2002, the European Union tested over 8 million cows during the same period."

[mmm]

11. WOW!

The recipe for disaster.

[liberalnurse]

4. This entire mess reminds me of

how this administration and media handled the initial Anthrax murders and the AIDS findings. Minimize the event, set-up propaganda to mislead the country since their f-up will cost millions.

[wanderingbear]

3. Contaminated feed..

[maggrwaggr]

15. not "contaminated" like "whoops it was an accident"

It's "contaminated" as in "let's save a few bucks by rendering these dead cows and adding the result to the cow feed".

That particular process was 100% deliberate.

[mainer]

5. BSE does spontaneously occur

Just as the human version, CJD, spontaneously occurs in one in a million subjects.

A form of BSE is also found naturally in elk, deer, and squirrels.

The troubling question, of course, is whether this IS an isolated case, or did the cow in question get fed animal products while it was a calf.

As an interesting aside, "mad squirrel disease" was described among people living in Kentucky a few years back. Apparently, squirrel brains are a favorite snack food among certain folk down there, and a number of people came down with the disease from eating diseased squirrels.

There have also been large human outbreaks of CJD from cannibalism among the Fore tribe in New Guinea, where women and children traditionally consumed body parts of deceased relatives. The outbreak became so rampant that by the time it reached its climax, so many women had died that the male/female ratio in the tribe was 2:1. (Men in this tribe did not consume human flesh.)

For a more thorough examination of BSE/CJD in all its myriad forms, and a description of the possible mechanism by which prions cause their destruction, there's a fascinating book called DEADLY FEASTS, by Richard Rhodes.

[wanderingbear]

6. Nothing spontaneously occurs

all things have a source..

[mainer]

9. Okay, then. It occurs for reasons "we don't yet know."

But it does occur in nature. We just don't know the source.

[veganwitch]

8. thats true...

the prions do come from somewhere. but it is absolutely irresponsible not to test the animals, cut down on risky behaviour, and inform the public. (funny how this sounds exactly like AIDS)

[mainer]

7. btw, you can get it from transplants

Pathologists have been infected with CJD when they autopsy diseased patients, and accidentally nick themselves.

Patients have been infected by corneal transplants, other organ transplants, and human growth hormone (cadaver-derived) injections.

Autoclaving does not destroy prions so infected surgical tools can pass the disease to subsequent patients.

Prions are not viruses, they are proteins, and as such are not destroyed by high heat. Back when I was in medical school, we were told that CJD and the sheep version, scrapie, were probably caused by slow viruses. Little did we know then.

[ajacobson]

10. Long latency period

Unfortunately BSE has a long latency period where it doesn't present symptomatically. Almost assuredly there are many more cows with BSE if one has been found to be a presumed positive.

My wife has done a lot of research on BSE, Creuzefeld-Jakob, etc etc for various classes she's taken. She has told me things that by the end, I was curled up in the corner asking for my mommy. BSE and related syndromes are extremely bad.

It comes down to a basic fact--stop feeding animals to herbivores! Industrial scale farming of beef has caused this and IMHO only the massive end consumers--the fast food companies--can get the industry to change their practices.

[rasputin1952]

12. Your last parafraph sums it up perfectly...

and is what I've been saying since day one of this scourge.

Cattle are herbivores, they don't need animal protein. It was a way to increase size and therefore sales. It all comes down to a dollar.

Now....with the drop in beef purchases; guess what, the assholes that came up with this brainstorm, will get a LOT less dollars.

O8)

[maggrwaggr]

16. it was also a way to sell the dead animals

and have another market for them besides pet food

[rasputin1952]

17. AH..pet food...

mad dog disease, mad cat disease, mad hamster disease....there could be a whole slew of _SE diseases!


:evilgrin:

[madrchsod]

13. " chronic wasting disease"

this effects wild hoofed game. the outbreak started several years ago at a ranch that raised hoofed game for hunting clubs. the animals were shipped across america and slowly crossed over to the wild animals. the last known problem was southern wisconsin and northern il. tommy thompson ,then govenor of wisconsin sat on the problem for a few years before doing anything-caimpain donations from hunting clubs- after he left to go to washington the state had to have a hunt to elimate as many deer as hunters could shoot. the animals were destroyed and finally the there has been no new outbreaks. if the disease would have crossed to the dairy herds of wis. and northern il the dairy industry would have been destroyed and the possiblity of the disease infecting thousands of people...

[Bushfire]

19. wrong, new CWD cases still being found in WI

Battle moves to Walworth

Sick doe in Fontana forces DNR into action

By BOB RIEPENHOFF
[e-mail]
Last Updated: Dec. 6, 2003
Walworth County could be the next battleground in the fight against chronic wasting disease.

The Department of Natural Resources is conducting intensive surveillance for the fatal deer brain disease in the county, where a wild deer tested positive for the disease in August.

According to Tami Ryan, wildlife supervisor for the area that includes Walworth County, biologists are attempting to determine whether the deer, a doe found in the village of Fontana, is a separate outbreak or whether it is related to other confirmed areas of infection in the Mount Horeb area, in Rock County or in northern Illinois.

"We have one positive in Walworth County," Ryan said. "We don't know if it's one spark from a fire or if Walworth County is its own separate entity."


more...

http://www.jsonline.com/outdoors/dec03/190716.asp

this case is quite a bit east, and closer to the Illinois border than the other area where the outbreak was west of Madison. Curiously the Milw J/S had no follow up regarding the other heads donated to be tested. Hmmm...no venison for me.

[jburton]

14. By hating us for our freedom, that's how.

/sarcasm

(but honestly, couldn't you hear Bushco using a line like that?)

[m-jean03]

18. LOL

Yeah, could be a variation on the cow "jihad" Dana Lyons predicted...
After all, consider...These cows are very similar to suicide bombers. They deliberately spread a fatal illness amongst each other, willing to sacrifice their own lives to spread this horrific form of bio-terrism among the Murikan people!

:7

[SOS]

20. More on cattle feed

Cattle are now fed feed which includes processed dead pigs and chickens, chicken and pig manure, plastic (for roughage), ground newspaper, sawdust, rendered cats and dogs, cement dust and, of course, other cows - the source of BSE. While this practice (other cow parts) was banned in 1997, it continues.
Also in that steak are large residues of pesticides. avicides and rodenticides, fungicides and herbicides used on the soybeans and corn bound for cattle, rather than human consumption. Beef has more herbicide residue than factory farmed tomatoes, which are #2 on the poison list.
Plus antibiotics (half of all used in US) to keep the animal alive long enough to kill and massive amounts of hormones for fattening. Filthy slaughter houses are also the source for E. Coli through fecal contact with beef.