bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), an infection of cattle characterized by degenerative, clumsy, apprehensive behavior, and death. The BSE brain tissue is perforated and spongy in appearance. The disease was first observed in cattle by veterinarians in 1883. It has been associated with other spongiform encephalopathies such as scrapie in sheep and goats and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. In European “mad cow” disease, it is believed the disease was transmitted to cattle through livestock feed that contained remains of scrapie-infected sheep. The disease was then transmitted to humans who ate BSE-infected beef.
