Mad Cow: 3rd Case in 2 Years Found in the USA

A Mad Cow case has just been confirmed in Alabama, following one found in Texas in June 2005. The USA has a national herd of 100 million cattle. Before 2004, only 20,000 cattle were tested annually for mad cow disease - almost all "downer" cattle, although animals are infected for years without symptoms. About 100,000 to 1,000,000 animals per year are "downers." The number of animals tested has been raised to about 384,000 per year.

A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department confirmed Monday, the third case in the U.S.
Alabama cow tests positive for mad cow disease

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U.S. investigators have found two previous cases of mad cow disease. The first was in December 2003 in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. The second was last June in a cow that was born and raised in Texas.

Mad Cow Case confirmed in Alabama

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The USA has a national herd of 100 million cattle.

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About 100,000 to 1,000,000 animals per year are "downers."

The administration has done an admirable job of keeping the lid on Mad Cow and Bird Flu to protect industry and US trade.

But now, the cow has flown the coop. Both stories are breaking and they are related - economically, politically and at the molecular level too.




Mad Cow Madness
Bird Flu: Why Worry Now?
Black Humour: Bird Flu or Mad Cow: You Choose.



Also see: US Medical Care for H5N1 Bird Flu: Your Options



[edit on 13-3-2006 by soficrow]

Well, as long as they are destroyed i guess they are doing their job.

What can you do?

Erm. Test more?

Japan tests ALL of their cattle.

Remember - Mad Cow progresses for years before the cattle show symptoms. By the time they are "downer" cattle, staggering and falling, they already are near death.


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You've got to admit, it would be poetic justice if American consumer culture (and all the cruelty that goes along with it) was brought down by farmyard animals. The slaves have risen up, and become typhoid marys.

Then there's rabbit fever. Would love for this to cross over, domestic ebola-like hemorrhagic fever! Woo-hoo!

Or cat flu? People don't even look twice at their cats and dogs, but there's nothing stopping them from transmitting disease.

Some folks seem to be missing the point I think, at least that's how it looks on other threads. It's not that there are a bunch of new diseases (though there are, sort of), it's that so many people are living with a seriously weakened immune system. Diseases are gonna keep evolving, and changing, and moving, and the only reliable defenses that we have are our wonderful skin, our top-notch immune system, the presence of oxygen in and around us, and our good sense (some will say drugs, but they are a bit of a double-edged blade).

So what happens when our lifestyle robs us of our wonderful skin, our top-notch immune systems, our precious oxygen, and our good sense?

The fact that there are powerful people ready and willing to take advatange of the stupidity and near-sightedness of the masses is doubly sick, but no less predictable than the sun rising.

Mad cow disease has gone undetected in the US for many years just because the lack or lax laws imposed to testing.

Unless a cow falls death on the ground they would not get tested.

So if cows keep dying in more numbers you can bet your life that they are infested and has been infested for quite sometime.

But I wonder what the government will do to protect no the consumer but the meat industry.

A multimillion dollar industry is not expendable like we humans are.

Try to ignore my ignorance today.

Hey, maybe Rumsfeld will come up with some medication for the mad cow too.

All out tests immediatly for all cattle.

We have to know the extent of the problem... if we have a significant portion of infected animals then we need to vacuum seal them in plastic, then put them on a rocket ship, and send them into the sun...

I am only slightly kidding... because it would take that to kill mad cow disease prions.

Prion disease as a whole, we are not ready for. It would wipe out humanity in a few generations (except for those that are immune).

or how about this dooms day hypothetical (BUT feasable) scenario:

all is well, no war in the world... everything is peachy keen... life is good

and out of nowhere a few people start showing up at hospitals... with symptoms of premature alzheimers... no obvious sign as to why...

next thing you know, they are testing all these new patients for mad cow...
low and behold...
they find it, and realize that more and more people keep coming over the next months... all have the same thing (or variant)

then some testing is done on the healthy population, and surprise surprise... everyone has it (or more than not)

Doctors try to keep the secret, but too many nurses know already... most people will get sick within the next few years... those that are already, wont have enough people to care for them. No cure in sight, or even possible.

Before we know it, we are given a 1-8yr death sentence, and we never even got a chance to fight, avoid, placate, or educate

SO IM FIGHTIN NOW DAMMIT... while it might still save someone.

Think of it as the worst type of biological weapon across the entire spectrum of human kind... think of it like AIDS but with an immediate contagion factor, and an almost unlimited spread via carriers that dont know they are contaminated.

the saving grace... good time to be a vegetarian ( but even they have prion risks)

Actually I already know of a friend that has been tested for mad cow, she fortunately was negative, but the issue here is that She was actually tested for it by a local doctor.

Does that mean that testing has been done on humans already around and some results has come out of it.

Remember that Dementia has been increasing lately specially in the elderly and is truth Alzheimer's is on the raise also.



Funny.

I've always wondered, what about the cows that DON'T get tested and end up on the dinner table? Could any of them have Mad Cow Disease but just not be downers yet? Scary....

Originally posted by desert
I've always wondered, what about the cows that DON'T get tested and end up on the dinner table? Could any of them have Mad Cow Disease but just not be downers yet?

Yes, they could. For years, the official line was that Mad Cow prions only occurred in the brain and spine. Now it's known that they pop up throughout the body, in the blood, muscle and most organs. Oh yeah, bodily fluids too. Hmmm.

Anyway, the saving grace is that there aren't usually that many prions in these various other locations - and dosage counts. Low doses mean that the disease will take decades to spread through the body and cause symptoms.

Looks like someone banked on the fact that symptoms can take decades to show up - decided to gamble with our lives - and counted on having a cure by the time everyone started getting sick. But guess what? No cure.

Even worse, prions hitchhike on viruses and other microbes - so anyone who's infected with a prion disease and something else at the same time turns into a "mixing vessel."

We are living in interesting evolutionary times...


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I am wondering if there are or have been any evidences of wasting disease in the deer in Alabama yet. Seems to me this would show long before the bovine population since few cows live long enough to manifest symptoms.

I dont see the need to worry. I live in Alabama and have never really been concerned with Mad Cow. Lets not forget its also easily confused with hoof and mouth disease too. The feed ban started 10 years ago stopped the addition of ground up cow parts in feed and aparently the cow that had mad cow was 10 yrs or older and just was one of those unlucky ones. Besides mad cow is not contagious to other cows unless they chow on an infected brain. Even if it had made it into the human feed market your alright. Prions only infect the brain and nervous system. If however if you ate the t bone or ribs you might have a slight chance ot getting it. Then again it has a usual incubation period of 10 to 20 yrs. So if you did contract it you still have some kicking time to enjoy life. But CJD is alot a rare genetic disease too. So you can get it without eating infected beef too.

Originally posted by bacterialsludge
Then again it has a usual incubation period of 10 to 20 yrs. So if you did contract it you still have some kicking time to enjoy life. But CJD is alot a rare genetic disease too. So you can get it without eating infected beef too.

That is a nice future to be looking ahead, we all be in our old years suffering from dementia, Alzheimer and mad cow syndrom.

Originally posted by bacterialsludge
I dont see the need to worry. ...The feed ban started 10 years ago stopped the addition of ground up cow parts in feed and aparently the cow that had mad cow was 10 yrs or older and just was one of those unlucky ones. Besides mad cow is not contagious to other cows unless they chow on an infected brain. Even if it had made it into the human feed market your alright. Prions only infect the brain and nervous system. If however if you ate the t bone or ribs you might have a slight chance ot getting it. Then again it has a usual incubation period of 10 to 20 yrs. So if you did contract it you still have some kicking time to enjoy life.

Aahhh.

The old "don't worry, be happy" argument.

Well done.


FYI though, you're promoting a LOT of misinformation and disinformation. You might want to take a peek at the science.

But CJD is alot a rare genetic disease too. So you can get it without eating infected beef too.

True. That's the neat thing about prion diseases - not only can you have them for decades without getting diagnosed, you can pass them on congenitally too.


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