| It's caused by the same protein molecules that cause "Scrapie" in sheep, and it's deadly to cattle and humans. It's transmitted by ingesting the molecules (called "prions", which are self-replicating proteins), and it is thought to have been passed to cattle by herdsmen who fed bonemeal from scrapie-infected sheep to their cattle, then, most likely, the infected cattle's bonemeal was fed to healthy cattle, and the problem got worse and worse. We have been very blessed that there has never been a case of Mad Cow's Disease in North America, but we have to be careful because the prions are here. There are populations of deer that are being wiped out by Chronic Wasting Disease, which is caused by these prions, and it is thought that the deer prions could infect our cattle population (if the cattle are fed deer bonemeal). One thing we have in our favor is that American cattlemen have know how Mad Cow's Disease is transmitted for many years, now. CDC Report on BSE University of Illinois Report on BSE Deer Wasting Disease Wisconsin's Deer Have It |
