What is bovine spongiform encephalopathy?

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a very bad disease that cows get. We call it BSE for short. Most people know it better as Mad Cow Disease.

It is a problem with the cow's brain. The brain gets holes in it and becomes like a sponge. This is why it is called 'spongiform'. The cow gets sick and starts to act very strange. It can become scared or very angry. Sadly, the cow always dies from this disease.

Scientists say it is not from a normal germ like a virus. It is from a wrong kind of protein called a prion. This prion makes other proteins in the brain go wrong too.

There was a big problem with this in the UK many years ago. People got sick from eating meat from a cow that had BSE. This made the government bring in very strict rules about food. Now, farmers cannot feed cows certain things. This has helped to make it very rare now. It is not something we worry about much today.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is what people call Mad Cow Disease. It is a brain sickness for cows. The name sounds very technical, but it is simple. 'Bovine' means it is related to cows. 'Spongiform' is because the disease makes tiny holes in the brain. So under a microscope, the brain looks like a sponge.

The cause is not a virus or bacteria. It is a faulty protein called a prion. This bad protein makes other normal proteins in the brain also become bad. It is a slow chain reaction that destroys the brain. This makes the cow act very strange. They have trouble walking, they get nervous and sometimes aggressive.

The main worry was that people could get a version of this disease. It is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). This happened from eating meat from an infected cow, especially the brain or spinal cord parts. But now, it is very rare. There are strict rules everywhere about what cows can eat, so it is much safer.