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CAS | Health & Emerging Issues Home | Animal Health Issues | BSE
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
Also Known as 'Mad Cow Disease'
What is BSE?  
  • Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also termed "Mad Cow Disease", is one of a number of slowly progressive, degenerative neurologic diseases in animals and man classified as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE).
  • This cattle disease was first discovered in the United Kingdom in 1986. Other TSE diseases of animals, e.g. Scrapie in sheep or Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, have been known for many years.
  • Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD) and Kuru are examples of TSE diseases of humans.Epidemiologic data would suggest that BSE may be responsible for a variant form of CJD (vCJD) in people.
  • To date, 132 people have been diagnosed with vCJD; all of these persons were from European countries during the initial BSE outbreak. All TSE diseases have no known effective treatment and result in death.

Pennsylvania Information And Resources
  "What We Know About Mad Cow Disease and Its Recent Outbreak in the United States" (pdf)
  "Protecting Your Business from Mad Cow Disease" (pdf)
  BSE Stock Market Watch -- News on cosumer response and impact on beef prices
  Penn State BSE FAQs
  Penn State Food Safety Data Base -- Search database to find a listing of up to date articles on BSE
  Statement from Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, Dennis C. Wolff--To Pennsylvania Livestock Producers, 12/30/03
  PA Beef Council -- The Pennsylvania Beef Council (PBC) is a non-profit organization working on behalf of 25,000 beef, dairy and veal producers in Pennsylvania.

Federal Agency Information
  APHIS Information Page--Contains information on the latest updates and surveilance procedures, FAQs, chronological developments, BSE Images, and related information
  CDC--Center for Disease Control; Contains FAQs, New Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Fact Sheet news and highlights
  FDA--Food and Drug Administration; latest news and information for consumers, industry professionals, vaccines and blood safety; New BSE Feed Regulations
  USDA/FAS --Foreign Agriculture Service
  USDA's BSE Testing Program--The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has undertaken an intensive animal health testing program for BSE.
  FSIS--Food Safety and Inspection Service
  EDEN--Extension, Disaster, Education Network

Information For Animal Industry Professionals, Producers
  Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory Certified for BSE Sample Analysis (May 20, 2004 PDA Press Release)
  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease: Bibliography of Peer-reviewed Papers
  American Meat Science Association--BSE Resources page
  Screening All Cattle is Costly Idea -- January 12, 2004. Omaha World-Herald
  New BSE Feed Regulations 
  Center for Food Security and Public Health -- Iowa State University; This is a site for industry professionals and veterinarians. Contains educational and training resources.-- Fact Sheets, BSE Power Point Presentation
  BSE Talking Points, January 2, 2004 -- from Emergency Management and Information Network
 

DEFRA BSE Homepage - United Kingdom, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

  OIE -- World Health Organization for Animal Health
 

Calf Notes -- By Dr. Jim Quigley, from CalfNotes.com

    BSE and Calves - Information on the potential for maternal transmission of BSE to calves.
BSE and Bovine Blood Proteins - Information on FDA ruling
  BSEinfo.Org -- Managed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association
  National Cattleman's Association -- Initiated in 1898, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the marketing organization and trade association for America's one million cattle farmers and ranchers.

Information From Other State And National Organizations
  University of Minnesota - (CIDRAP) Center for Infections Disease Research and Policy
 

The State of Washington's BSE Information -- News and facts about BSE.

  BSE Information at UIUC -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Valuable information about BSE posted prior to the outbreak in the US.
  BSE Information at Purdue
  Iowa State Univeristy BSE Information
  Institue of Agriculture and Natural Resources AI Information--Nebraska State University
  MU Hosts Scientific Workshop on BSE and Similar Diseases
PSU Materials:

BSE FAQ (pdf)
BSE Fact Sheet
News Releases
Radio Scripts

Government Info:

APHIS
CDC
EDEN
ERS/USDA
FDA
FSIS
OIE
PDA
USDA
WHO

CAS Links:

Ag Economics & Rural Sociology
Food Science
Veterinary Science
Dairy & Animal Science
Poultry Science Extension

For more information, please contact:
David R. Wolfgang
Veterinary Science
Email:
 
Robert J. Van Saun
Veterinary Science
Email:
 
Catherine N. Cutter
Food Safety Issues
Email:
 
John Comerford
Animal Feeding
Email:
 
Sarah Roth
Ag Economics
Email:


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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Health and Emerging Issues The College of  Agricultural Sciences