Mad cow disease comeback: UK on verge of second epidemic as people ‘silently infected'
MAD cow disease claimed the lives of almost 180 people 20 years ago - but scientists are now warning the UK could be on the verge of a second wave of the deadly epidemic.
The spread of the disease, officially known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), remains Britain’s biggest ever food scandal. And now scientists have admitted they are “uncertain” of how many people in the UK are “silently infected” as they predict another outbreak. Experts warn anyone who ate beef between 1986 and 1989 would have eaten meat infected with BSE, meaning they could be incubating the killer disease without knowing.
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The disease has an incubation period of between 30 and 50 years.
Richard Knight, Professor of Neurology at the CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh, told BBC Two documentary ‘Mad Cow Disease: The Great British Beef Scandal’: “There is still so much uncertainty. And one of the things that is uncertain is how many people in the UK are silently infected.
“I have to say we are simply not sure, but every prediction suggests there are going to be further cases”.
READ MORE: What is mad cow disease?
BSE reached epidemic proportions in the 1990s, requiring more than four million cattle to be culled.
BSE can be passed to humans via the food chain, causing a non-curable and fatal condition called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
According to the NHS, symptoms of CJD can develop anytime between a few months and two years.
Neurological symptoms including difficulty walking, slurred speech, numbness, dizziness and vision problems.
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Some of the psychological symptoms include severe depression, extreme despair, anxiety, withdrawal, irritability and insomnia.
As CJD develops, an individual’s physical and mental condition deteriorates further until they are unable to communicate or move.
In the final stages of CJD, a person will become bedridden and require 24-hour care.
The cause of death is usually caused by any infection or respiratory failure.
BSE was first found in UK cattle in 1986 and rapidly spread to 180,000 animals.
The disease was transmitted to countries around the world including the United States, Japan and Europe.
Exports of British beef were banned for three years in 1996, with the European Union lifting the restriction three years later.
Isolated cases have been reported in the UK in recent years, with a case in Wales in 2015.
‘Mad Cow Disease: The Great British Beef Scandal airs tonight on BBC Two at 9pm.
