Mad cow disease: This disease became known in the 80s and 90s after an outbreak in the United Kingdom; Remember | Agricultural business

Do you know what “mad cow disease” is? The name is not popular now, but it became known around the world after the disease spread in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. Epidemics made animals dangerous, hence their name, and feared because of possible contamination from humans.

According to Adebara, the case took place in a small town in southeastern Bara that has 160 cattle. “Symptomatology indicates that this is an atypical form of the disease, which arises spontaneously in nature and poses no risk of transmission to the herd or to humans,” the Para government said.

The site has already been isolated and the property has been inspected and preventive measures have been taken, the agency said.

In 20 years of tracking the disease, the country has never identified the more traditional form, which is when the animal becomes contaminated through its food.Vanessa Felipe de Sousa is a veterinarian, virologist, researcher of Mbraba Gado de Corte.

Brazil has had a health status of no critical risk for the disease in the OIE since 2013.

The first major outbreak of the disease peaked between 1992 and 1993, when nearly 100,000 cases were confirmed in England. It is estimated that 180 thousand cattle were affected and more than 4 million animals were sacrificed during that time.

During this period, even eating beef was banned in that country.

Remember the crisis in a statement from that time:

A The disease is dangerous Also affects older cows Nervous system degeneration. As a result, a cow that was initially calm and easy to handle, for example, becomes aggressive, hence the nickname disturbance.

A Bovine spongiform encephalopathyScientific name of the disease Made by an infectious protein called a prion. Prions are naturally present in the brains of many mammals, including humans Can become pathogenic by adopting an abnormal form and multiplying excessively.

When this happens, the prion kills the neurons and replaces them with white holes in the brain, hence the name “spongiform” because the holes are sponge-like in shape. See below.

There are two main ways to get an animal disease:

There is no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to a cow.However, If she is diagnosed with the disease, the producer must slaughter her and burn her bodyIn order to prevent them from becoming food for certain species, Vanessa explains.

The breeder must also inform the official health protection service.

Mad cow disease has a long course, in which the animal presents neurological symptoms, such as:

These symptoms can be confused with other diseases affecting the central nervous system such as rabies, envenomation, polyencephalomalacia, bovine herpes virus, etc. Therefore, it is important to prove it through laboratory diagnosis.

When infected with the disease, cattle may die within two weeks to six months of the onset of symptoms.

Further Is it possible for a human to acquire this infectious prion by eating infected meat?A developing variant is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), also known as “mad cow disease”.

No cases have been registered in Brazil because there is no evidence of contamination in livestock, only “distinctive appearance” episodes, i.e. in isolated cases.

danger Mad cow disease develops in humans There is consumption of contaminated parts of cattle brain, cervical spine, tonsil or eye fundus tissue.. However, since the late 1990s, the Ministry of Agriculture It banned the marketing of these parts for consumptionVeterinarian Enrico Ortolani, Globo Rural consultant points out.

Both degenerative diseases are fatal and have some common symptoms such as memory loss, vision loss, depression and insomnia. A person can acquire this condition and have no symptoms for years.