There have been fewer headlines on the BSE problem lately. What are the scientific facts about this disease and what can you say about the current situation?

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is commonly known as "mad cow disease", a fatal brain disease that affects cattle. BSE is one type of a group of prion diseases referred to as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). TSEs are fatal diseases that cause spongy degeneration of the brain and severe neurological symptoms.
The origin of BSE is not yet known. According to one theory, the agent consists of "transmissible misshapen ("rogue") prions" that are capable of interacting with normal prions (proteins naturally found, mostly in the brain but also in other tissues, of humans and animals) to induce their transformation to "transmissible prions". Other factors are thought to be involved in the development of BSE and research in this area is continuing.

The incidence of BSE has shown a significant decline every year in the UK since the peak of the disease in 1992. In 1999, there were 2274 reported cases. This figure fell to 1355 in 2000 and 1044 in 2002 (see www.oie.int for updated figures).
Significantly smaller numbers of BSE cases have been reported in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia. Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland (see www.oie.int for updated figures).

Up to 2002 BSE has only been detected in cattle. Although no direct cause and effect relationship has been scientifically proven, some neurological and cytological (tissue) findings suggest that BSE in cattle and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakobs Disease (v-CJD) in humans might be linked. Although it is not possible to accurately predict the future incidence of v-CJD in humans because of the long incubation period before symptoms become apparent, the risk of contracting v-CJD is now considered to be very low. Strict regulations to govern animal feeding, testing, slaughter, the age of cattle slaughtered for human consumption and destruction of any organs at-risk of BSE-infection, have reduced the risk. Questions remain however regarding the origin of BSE and the mode of transmission which makes this subject an area of intense research for some time to come.