ABSTRACT
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) first came to the attention of the scientific community in November 1986 with the appearance in cattle of a newly recognized form of neurological disease in the United Kingdom. Between November 1986 and May 1995 approximately 150,000 cases of this newly recognized cattle disease were confirmed from approximately 33,500 herds of cattle in the UK. Epidemiological studies in the UK at that time suggested that the source of disease was cattle feed prepared from carcasses of dead ruminants, and that changes in the process of preparing cattle feed introduced in 1981-2 may have been a risk factor. Speculation as to the cause of the appearance of the disease in the food chain of cattle has ranged from spontaneous occurrence in cattle, the carcasses of which then entered the cattle food chain; to entry into the cattle food chain from the carcasses of sheep with a similar disease.
