When Birds Get Flu And Cows Go Mad!

Wanted: Mad Cow! There’s a sick cow out there. And a food detective gets the call to track it down. The phone rang two days before Christmas. The moment investigator Will Hughes heard what the caller had to say, he knew he was facing a deadly health emergency. A diseased cow had been found—and many lives were at risk. Early that morning, a tissue sample from a cow in Washington State had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)—also known as mad cow disease. That’s a rare brain disorder that kills both animals and humans. In Europe, hundreds of thousands of cows have caught the disease. And 150 humans have died from it. But mad cow disease had never appeared in the U.S. Until now! Hughes is an investigator for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That’s the government agency that checks the safety of the food we eat. He knew that animals and people could die from eating parts of this mad cow. What’s more, by the time Hughes got the call, the cow’s meat had already been sent to packing plants, grocery stores, and restaurants all over the region. Hughes is like a food detective. It’s his job to find these cow parts before anyone gets sick or dies. He kissed his wife good-bye, grabbed his badge, and drove off into the night. He wouldn’t be back in time to celebrate Christmas with his family. He was facing his toughest case ever. HOW DO YOU MAKE A COW MAD? Mad cow disease is serious—but fairly rare. You can call it mad cow disease. Or you can call it bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). But by any name, it’s a disorder that attacks the brain. There’s no known cure—and it’s always fatal. A cow infected with BSE has difficulty holding up its head. Its muscles twitch uncontrollably. It stumbles and falls. Eventually, it loses the ability to walk. Soon after, it dies. People who eat meat from a cow infected with BSE can have similar symptoms. Their brain tissue gets spongy, resulting in dementia. That’s a nerve disorder that causes loss of perception, memory, and judgment. After a while, they become paralyzed—and then die. Brain Disease The human version of mad cow resembles a rare brain disease called variant Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). It seems to affect mostly young adults. It strikes five or more years after the victim ate bad meat. In every case, the infected person has died. Perhaps the best news about mad cow is that people do not catch it easily. Chances are, millions of people have eaten infected beef. But, for reasons scient

שנה

2007

שפה

English

הוצאה

Franklin Watts

מהדורות

2

עמודים

64

ISBN

9780531120699

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata