Should we be worried about mad cow disease?

Health & FitnessMedicine

  • Author Craig Payne
  • Published October 29, 2022
  • Word count 537

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) that has been referred to as ‘mad cow disease’ within the mainstream press is a degenerative brain illness that is deadly. It has a variety of similarities to Alzheimer’s disease because it commences with a rapid development of memory issues; behavioral variations including paranoia, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and a psychosis; inadequate balance and falls and visual issues. Down the road the symptoms progress to dementia and involuntary jerky movements. It is considerably more rapid in its progress when compared with Alzheimer’s disease and they quickly end up in a coma with about 70% of individuals with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease passing away inside a year of the being diagnosed. The illness was named after the German doctors Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt and Alfons Jakob back in 1920. The explanation for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is an infectious kind of unnatural proteins which are known as prions. Most cases of CJD come about for unknown reasons with just about 10% are passed down from a individuals mother and father in an autosomal dominant manner. There are 3 forms of CJD, sporadic, familial in addition to acquired. Being exposed to brain as well as spinal tissue from an infected person can even lead to the diseases distribution. There is absolutely no evidence in which Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease will spread among people via regular connection with an infected individual. CJD impacts about 1 individual per million individuals each year and the onset is commonly approximately 60 years of age.

A variant type of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the human form of mad cow disease that has an effect on cattle and is the widely used term for the whole number of problems that get reported in the popular media. It is considered as the result of the consuming of beef products tainted with nervous system tissue, like brain and spinal cord, from cattle that are contaminated with mad cow disease. There had been an outbreak with this in the United Kingdom in the 1980's and 90’s which includes a reported 178 fatalities from it during that time after eating infected beef. United Kingdom beef was banned from foreign trade worldwide with some restrictions remaining in place right up until as not too long ago as 2019. The episode brought about a substantial public health response to cope with the catastrophe and also the panic within the mass media. In the USA it is necessary that all brain and spinal cord components be removed from high-risk cows that displays any signs of a nerve issue. This is so that infected cattle products will not get into the food chain to safeguard the public health. The prospects of this as being a concern today are very low if any as a result of measures which have been integrated.

There isn't any specific strategy for CJD. Medication enables you to assist with the pain and also the involuntary motions. Psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression are treated with sedatives in addition to anti-depressants. There are various of remedies that are under exploration that could be in the position to slow the development of the illness. The most promising of those could be the monoclonal antibodies which have been shown to just about halt the development of the disease in a couple of individuals.

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