Mad cow disease again?

Last week of April 2012, the Internet was bussing about a break of mad cow disease again in a facility in nation’s number one diary producing Tulare County, California. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials have confirmed that they found a cow infected with the disease and the cow in question has been euthanized. The U.S. authorities also stated that there is no real danger to the public from entering the infected meat into the food supply and the cow in question was never destined for the meat market. Indonesia immediately stopped importing beef from the U.S. However, Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea indicated that they will continue to import U.S. beef.

Unsteadiness and incoordination are the two main symptoms of the disease. The clinical name of the disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The disease eventually kills brain cells. As a result of the recent discovery, two cattle farms in the area have been quarantined by the USDA authorities.

This was the fourth incident of mad cow disease ever to discover in the U.S. Last outbreak of the mad cow disease in the U.S. was in 2006. Any outbreak of the disease could cripple the dairy industry in the U.S.