 A plaque memorializing those who died of vCJD. | |
| Location | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Type | Disease outbreak |
| Deaths | 178 |
| Inquiries | The BSE Inquiry |
The United Kingdom was afflicted with an outbreak of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as "mad cow disease"), and its human equivalent variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), in the 1980s and 1990s. Over four million head of cattle were slaughtered in an effort to contain the outbreak, and 178 people died after contracting vCJD through eating infected beef. A political and public health crisis resulted, and British beef was banned from export to numerous countries around the world, with some bans remaining in place until as late as 2019.[1]
The outbreak is believed to have originated in the practice of supplementing protein in cattle feed by meat-and-bone meal (MBM), which used the remains of other animals. BSE is a disease involving infectious misfolded proteins known as prions in the nervous system; the remains of an infected animal could spread the disease to animals fed on such a diet.
- ^ "Japan to scrap UK beef ban imposed after BSE crisis". BBC News. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.