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World Affairs, Science & Tech.
Mahesh

27/02/23 09:56 AM IST

Mad cow disease

In News
  • Brazil has halted its beef exports to China after a case of mad cow disease was confirmed in the northern state of Para.
Mad Cow Disease
  • Mad cow disease is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
  • It is a transmissible, slowly progressive, degenerative, and fatal disease which affects the central nervous system of adult cattle.
  • The infectious agent that causes mad cow disease is an abnormal version of a protein normally found on cell surfaces, called a prion, research has shown.
  • When this protein gets altered, it destroys the nervous system tissue- the brain and spinal cord.
  • Although, the reason for the same is still unknown.
Symptoms
  • A common sign of BSE in cows is incoordination. A sick cow has trouble walking and getting up and may also act very nervous or violent.
  • It usually takes four to six years from the time a cow is infected with the abnormal prion to when it first shows symptoms of BSE.
  • This is called the incubation period. During the incubation period, there is no way to tell that a cow has BSE by looking at it.
  • Once a cow starts to show symptoms, it gets sicker and sicker until it dies, usually within two weeks to six months.
  • There is no treatment for BSE and no vaccine to prevent it.
Source- Hindustan Times

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