“Mad cow” disease is a fatal disease in cattle. Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment of it with modern medicine, and that is why it is important to investigate how this disease might be prevented. In order to avert this infection, doctors are trying to understand causes and conditions of transmission of the disease and stop its spread among cattle. However, more dangerous is the fact that it can spread among people who eat contaminated meat.
“Mad cow” disease is known as a cattle transmissible disease, which affects a part of a brain, so it turns sponge-like due to the influence of a specific form of protein known as a prion (Science Daily). When the infection occurs, it starts to affect the central nervous system of cows. The typical symptoms of “mad cow” disease are: difficulty in walking, depression and dementia. Incubation period is rather long — about 60 weeks. During this period changes have already occurred in the brain tissue of affected cattle. The research has reported that the autonomic nervous system shows signs of infection before the involvement of the central nervous system (Science Daily). After that the whole body of the infected cow is affected and, as a result, death follows. “Mad cow” disease may also develop in the human body if people eat infected meat of cattle. Later it turns into Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which usually affects older people. The research shows that the process of feeding may be the main route for transmission of “mad cow” disease among cattle. Furthermore, contaminated meat may sometimes reach supermarkets. At that point it becomes dangerous for people to get infected.
In conclusion it is worth mentioning that “mad cow” disease is a dangerous one, because it has no effective treatment and, therefore is fatal. It is complicated by the fact that the disease can spread among people. Thus, professionals have to help find a way to protect humans and cattle from this dangerous disease.