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What
is BSE?
BSE is a degenerative neurological disease
caused by an aberrant protein called a prion. It is in
the family of diseases—all caused by prions—referred
to as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or
TSEs. TSEs include scrapie in sheep and goats, chronic
wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk, and
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, in humans.
It’s important to note that TSEs are not
communicable diseases—they do not spread easily like
viruses.
How
is BSE spread in cattle?
Cattle can become infected with BSE by eating
feed contaminated with the infectious BSE agent. This
is why in 1997 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
prohibited the use of most mammalian protein in the
manufacture of animal feed intended for cows and other
ruminants. For more information on the feed ban,
please visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s
website at www.fda.gov.
What does the detection mean for U.S. beef
exports?
In accordance with international trade
agreements, USDA has notified the international animal
health governing body, the OIE, of the presumptive
positive BSE detection.
At the time of this posting, 11 U.S. trading partners,
including, among others, Japan, South Korea, Russia,
and Mexico, have suspended imports of U.S. beef and
beef products. USDA officials will be working to
provide U.S. trading partners and international animal
health officials with information regarding the steps
being taken in response to the detection.
How does BSE affect humans?
A fatal TSE affecting humans, variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), is believed to be
caused by eating neural tissue, such as brain and
spinal cord, from BSE-affected cattle. For this
reason, USDA requires that all nervous system
materials be removed from downer cattle identified at
U.S. slaughter facilities. These specified risk
materials are removed, sent to rendering facilities,
and do not enter U.S. food supply channels. We believe
this practice effectively safeguards U.S. public
health from vCJD.
Having said that, it is important to clarify the
differences between variant CJD and another form of
the disease, referred to as classic CJD. Classic CJD
occurs each year at a rate of 1 to 2 cases per 1
million people throughout the world, including in the
United States and other countries where BSE has never
occurred. It is not linked to the consumption of
neural tissue from BSE-affected cattle—both
vegetarians and meat eaters have died from classic CJD.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), no cases of variant CJD have been
identified in the United States, the form of the
disease linked to eating neural tissue from BSE-affected
cattle.
This
information is from APHIS/USDA.
For
more information on BSE, click on this link: http://www.bseinfo.org |
