Mad Cow Disease
There are two new diseases in a growing line to plague humankind. Bovine Spongiform Encenphalopathy and its human form, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, better known as mad cow disease, are new kinds of diseases that appear to be unstoppable. Mad Cow disease is caused by a mutated chain of proteins in a strand of DNA. Because it is neither a virus nor a bacterium, the protein chain has been named a prion. What happens is still unknown, but the theory is that an animal ingests a mutated prion, and once inside, it attacks other strands of DNA, mutating them into like prions. The effect is a change in the physiological make up of tissues in the animal. The most significant side effect is the "sponging" of the brain and tonsil tissues. Essentially, the brain of an affected animal turns into a sponge-like piece of matter, filled with holes which kills the animal. Due to the lack of information and action on the part of the European Union, Mad Cow disease is now a wide spread epidemic that is destroying their economy and people. To emphasize the infancy of BSE, it is important to understand a little of its history. It is believed that the first cattle were infected in the late 1970's in Great Britain, but the f
irst reported cases of BSE were in September 1985; that would make the disease less than seven years old. Cattle ranchers noticed a few cattle showing signs of a sheep disease known as Scrapie. It is called Scrapie because the infected sheep scrape at their heads with their hooves or against an object, like a fence, until they scrape the skin away, eventually bleeding to death. The cattle were quarantined and kept from scraping. While in quarantine, the cattle started showing other non-Scrapie symptoms. They seemed to lose coordination. The cattle started to twitch and jerk about uncontrollably. It became apparent to health officials that this was not Scrapie but something different. The European Union appointed a group to investigate the new disease. After the initial sets of research, it was decided that cattle had been fed the remains of sheep that had died from Scrapie. At that time, it was still unknown that this was not an autoimmune disease: it was not caused by a virus or bacterium. Since there were no reported cases of similar symptoms in humans, it was believed that BSE could not be transmitted to humans. In 1985 there were twenty-three reported cases of BSE. The E.U. government did not see the potential devastation of BSE, and the subject was pushed aside. In 1989 there were over 30,000 reported cases of BSE. Needless to say, E.U. officials took notice and started a committee to study, evaluate, and monitor BSE. A hidden secret also lurked in the UK: an unknown disease was attacking the nervous systems of five UK citizens. While the E.U. ignored BSE in cattle, the disease mutated and infected five humans the same way Scrapie mutated and infected cattle. It is now known that the first five unlucky souls that contracted CJD (the human form of BSE) consumed beef that was infected with BSE. Why only five out of the possible thousands that ate the beef got CJD is still unknown. In 1996 researchers discovered the BSE prion and how it works. They also discovered that there is no known way of stopping it from growing and killing whomever it has infected. Scientists have tried to kill the prion, but because it is not a pathogen, this cannot be done. They have also tried burning it at extremely high temperatures, but because of the chemical make up of the protein, BSE is unaffected. The only thing left to do until we find a way to stop it is to contain and control it. Containing and controlling it will not be an easy task. It is now believed that BSE can have a gestation period of up to forty years. This means th
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1728
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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