Mad Cow Disease
The variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) crisis, also known as the "human mad cow disease" crisis, was a significant event that followed the "mad cow disease" (BSE) crisis that occurred primarily in the United Kingdom (UK) in the 1980s and 1990s. vCJD is a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that is believed to be caused by exposure to the abnormal prion proteins that are associated with BSE. The first cases of vCJD were identified in the UK in 1996, and it quickly became apparent that the disease was linked to the consumption of beef from infected cattle. Prion protein (stained in red) revealed in photomicrograph of scrapie-infected mouse neural tissue. Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) As the number of vCJD cases continued to rise, concerns grew about the potential scale of the outbreak and the potential risks to public health. The UK government initially downplayed the risks of vCJD and resisted ca...