Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a fatal prion disease of cattle that causes progressive brain degeneration and spongiform changes.

Prion: An infectious agent made of misfolded protein that propagates by inducing abnormal folding in normal versions of the protein. Misfolded prion protein is the infectious agent that causes the disease.
Scrapie: A fatal prion disease of sheep and goats, recognized for centuries and associated with infectious animal tissues. Its infectious agent provided an early model for understanding animal prion diseases.
BSE surveillance: The systematic monitoring of cattle populations and tissues to detect BSE cases and track its prevalence. Surveillance identifies cases and verifies whether control measures are working.
Food safety: The practices and policies used to prevent food from causing illness or injury. BSE prompted controls on feed, slaughter, and potentially infectious tissues.
Classical BSE: The epidemic form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy associated with contaminated feed and widespread cattle transmission. It contrasts with atypical forms that arise sporadically in older cattle.
PRNP: The gene encoding the prion protein, which is expressed most abundantly in the nervous system. Its normal protein product is converted into the disease-associated form.
Meat and bone meal: Processed animal tissue used as a protein-rich ingredient in livestock feed. Contaminated feed was the principal route of the cattle epidemic’s spread.
BSE rapid test: A postmortem assay that detects disease-associated prion protein in specified cattle tissues. Testing slaughtered cattle helps prevent infected tissues entering the food chain.
Public health: The organized protection and improvement of health across populations. The possibility of human infection made BSE a population-health concern.
Atypical BSE: Rare forms of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, including H- and L-type cases, usually detected in older cattle. These forms differ from the feed-associated epidemic strain in occurrence and epidemiology.

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