|
Animalborne
Disease > Mad
Cow Disease
Since December 23, 2003 the
Yakima Health District's role
has been to serve as support
to the USDA and the WSDA while
they coordinate the details
of the "Mad Cow Disease"
incident. YHD has answered
public concerns and media
inquiries and staff has kept
up-to-date with the most recent
developments in the situation.
We
would like to commend the
public for keeping a level
head; we have had surprisingly
few panicked phone calls.
Yakima Health District's next
steps include:
- Serving
as community support when
needed.
- Answering
questions from the public
and helping to bolster our
local beef and dairy industry
with facts and combat damaging
fiction.
- Restaurant
inspectors will continue
to protect the public by
ensuring that the food you
eat in the community is
safely handled.
- Continuing
to interview community members,
and follow-up with food
establishments as necessary,
- Continued
to support of community
members and industries by
helping ensure our food
supply is safe and the information
circulating is accurate.
What
is BSE?
Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis
(BSE) is the scientific name
for a disease that is known
as Mad Cow Disease. BSE is
caused by a prion; prions
are a modified protein. Prions
are different than bacteria
and viruses because they are
not a living organism. Scientists
are still learning what prions
are, how they reproduce, and
how they cause disease. What
scientists do know is that
prions cannot be destroyed
by our current disease fighting
techniques. Because they are
a protein, they remain infectious
as long as that protein exists.
For example, if BSE is in
the brain tissue of a cow,
that brain tissue will remain
infectious until there is
no brain tissue left.
In
cows, BSE causes progressive
neurological symptoms. You
may have seen images in the
media of cows falling and
struggling to walk; although
these things can happen in
later stages of the disease,
this is not what happened
in Mabton. The Mabton cow
walked on the truck to slaughter
and walked off the truck when
it arrived. In early stages
of the disease in cows, the
cow may exhibit fear of normal
activities and a generalized
anxiety that make it nonproductive
in a farm environment. This
will eventually prompt some
investigation into the disruptive
behavior.
How
Are Humans Affected?
Humans develop a different
form of BSE called Variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
(vCJD). vCJD is a rare, degenerative,
fatal brain disorder that
typically affects younger
people; the median age of
victims in Great Britain is
28. The incubation period
is currently unknown because
the disease is so new, but
scientists expect that the
incubation period is years
to decades. Initial symptoms
include psychiatric problems
and dementia follows later
in the illness. The course
of illness usually lasts at
least six months. Scientists
estimate that over one million
cows entering the food chain
in Britain were infected with
BSE and only 126 cases of
vCJD resulted. Although no
person wants to be one of
the 126, the likelihood of
developing this disease is
extremely low.
| Yakima
County Government Press
Release |
|
|
| Washington
State Department of Agriculture
Fact Sheet |
|
|
For
more information, please visit
the links below:
United
States Department of Agriculture
Washington
State Department of Agriculture
BSE Page
CDC
Information and Resources
CDC
vCJD Fact Sheet
Last
Updated
Friday, August 29, 2008 3:55 PM
|
