This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
In late May, Canada reported that one cow in the province ofAlberta had been infected with a deadly disease that can infecthumans. It is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or B-S-E. Themedia often call it “mad cow disease.”
B-S-E affects the brain and nervous system of cattle. A form ofthe disease, Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease, infects people. Currently,Canadian officials are investigating the incident. It is only thesecond case of B-S-E in Canada. The first was innineteen-ninety-three.
B-S-E was first observed in Britain in nineteen-eighty-six. Itspread to other countries in Europe. Millions of cattle weredestroyed because of the disease. Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease isbelieved to have killed more than one-hundred people in Europe. Thevictims may have eaten infected meat.
B-S-E is cause by a protein called a prion. The protein is madeby a gene. However, sometimes the gene produces a deformed kind ofprion. This deformed protein appears to be infectious. Thedisease-causing prions can spread when an animal eats the infectedtissue of another animal. The brain or nervous system becomesinfected. It may take two to eight years for the disease to appear,but the result is always death. Expert say the best way to preventB-S-E is to keep animal parts out of farm animal food.
The infected cow had been killed January thirty-first. Someonethought it looked sick. Officials say the cow was not processed asfood for people. Its head was taken for tests.
Months later tissue from the cow was sent to Britain for moretesting. B-S-E was then found. The Canadian government announced thefindings on May twentieth.
Meat from the cow had been used to make pet food for dogs.Officials have ordered a recall of that pet food. Also, cattle on atotal of seventeen farms are being observed. Already, more thanone-hundred cattle have been destroyed and tested. Hundreds more maybe killed.
The effects of B-S-E on the cattle industry can be severe. TheUnited States, Japan and other countries have banned Canadian beef.Canada is the world’s tenth largest beef producer. Economic affectsdo not stop at the border of a country where B-S-E appears. Thestocks of companies that use beef also lose value. This can affectinvestors in many countries.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter.