The United States Department of Agriculture claims that the two cases of mad cow disease discovered in Alabama and Texas are not the kind previously found in the U.K., but a variant that occurs of its own accord.
Their claim is supported by research which did not find spongy lesions formed by a kind of protein that builds up plaque on brain cells, killing them – which is characteristic of cows with typical mad cow disease. Not only is their pattern of development peculiar, but even this protein called prions was found scattered in a manner distinctly different from that found in cows with the regular type of the disease.
These developments lead to a brain-wasting illness - bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and are spread from cow to cow through the infected tissue of one cow while feeding together. When human beings consume meat which is contaminated with BSE they may contract a form of Creutz-Jakob Disease (CJD), usually afflicting younger people. However, there are cases of people developing another form of CJD which is not related to mad cow and which occurs spontaneously, generally affecting older people.. The scientists are thereby connecting these reports to suggest that the instances of the only two cows U.S. cows with this disease are not related to those in Europe and Canada, but are a unprompted variant. The claims are further assisted by the fact that the infected cows were both old.
The researchers state that the government's attempts to disregard the differences between these two cases and the mad cow epidemic in Britain are coming in the way of better tackling the curious disease.
Despite the speculation regarding the cause of the disease, U.S. government officials are maintaining strict checks and safeguard measures. The precautionary steps include pre-processing action like the removal of bovine tissue found in the brain and spinal cord since it might be a carrier if BSE.
