Answer :
Final answer:
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects cattle's central nervous system and can transmit to humans causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
Explanation:
The slow, degenerative and deadly disease that attacks the central nervous system of cattle is known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly referred to as mad cow disease.
BSE is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) caused by prions. These are misfolded proteins that cause healthy proteins in the brain to misfold, resulting in progressive neurodegenerative disorders.
BSE was first identified in the United Kingdom and was spread among cattle through the feeding practices that included nervous tissue of other cattle.
When cattle contract BSE, they suffer from symptoms that include changes in temperament, such as nervousness or aggression, abnormal posture, and lack of coordination, leading to death.
BSE is zoonotic, which means it can be transmitted to humans, leading to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal neurodegenerative condition characterized by sponge-like lesions in the brain.
Measures have been taken to prevent BSE, such as banning the practice of feeding cattle with meat-and-bone meal (MBM) containing nervous system tissue, and surveillance programs to identify and cull affected animals.
