Two things may be on everyone’s mind lately: the weather and mad cow disease.
On Dec. 23 the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a presumptive diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as BSE or mad cow disease, in an adult Holstein cow from Washington state.
Although the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States has rattled some cages, official sources say that beef does not pose a health threat to the population.
“The federal investigating authorities have concluded that human food supplies have not been threatened in any way,” Washington Gov. Gary Locke said in a press release. “Beef remains safe for consumption in our state and across the country.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the infected cow didn’t come from the United States. The CDC Web site stated that, based on the cow’s ear tag identification number, it was most likely imported from Canada in August 2001.
Although the infected cow was processed for human consumption, the USDA recalled all beef from cattle slaughtered on Dec. 9 at the involved plant.
As a result of the mad cow disease scare, some Eugeneans are having second thoughts about consuming or purchasing beef.
Bonnie Forrester, a public health nurse for the Lane County Public Health Department, said she has received many calls from concerned citizens in Lane County.
“People ask if the beef that they have in their fridge is OK,” Forrester said.
But she said the panic over mad cow disease has tapered off and Lane County residents have a new worry on their minds.
“We haven’t been receiving calls,” Forrester said. “People are concerned with the weather.”
According to the CDC Web site, mad cow disease is a progressive neurological disorder that results from infection by an unconventional transmissible agent. It may stem from feeding cattle food that contains nerve tissue from the brain and spinal column of other cows.
Mad cow disease is most common in the United Kingdom, with more than one million cattle that may have been infected there.
When humans eat meat from an infected cow, they can contract a variant of the disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and commonly referred to as vCJD.
As of Dec. 1, 143 vCJD cases had occurred in the United Kingdom out of a worldwide total of 153 cases. The CDC disclosed that one of these cases occurred in the United States but that the patient lived in the United Kingdom before moving to America.
Forrester said that anyone with concerns about eating beef should contact the CDC or the Oregon Department of Agriculture. She added that if anyone is concerned about their specific beef, they should contact the store where it was purchased.
University senior and business administration major Gillian Ronning expressed some concern about the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States.
Ronning said that she recently left her vegetarian lifestyle behind and found out about the mad cow scare the day after eating her first steak. She said concerns crossed her mind, but she stopped thinking about it that same day.
“I think the chances of getting infected are small, but it is still something I would think about before buying beef,” Ronning said.