The carcass of a BSE-infected cow being burnt in a Dorset field. BSE (bovine spongiform encephal- opathy),or "mad cow" disease,progressively destroys the brains of infected cattle. The disease first appeared around 1985 and,so far,has only been identified in Britain. It is thought to have arisen from a similar disease,scrapie,which infects sheep & goats and to have been transmitted to cattle via processed feed containing infected sheep carcasses. The infective agent responsible for BSE is a virus-like organism known as a prion. Similar diseases affecting humans include Kuru,Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease & Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / Stammers, Sinclair |
Bildgröße: | 4926 px × 3798 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Restrictions: | - |