Mad cow disease, also known as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), is a slowly progressive fatal neurological disease affecting cattle due to infection with a prion. Research indicates that the first probable BSE infection in cows occurred in the 1970s. BSE may have originated from the feeding of cattle with meat-and-bone meal containing BSE-infected products resulting from a spontaneous case of BSE. Evidence suggests that the epidemic spread throughout the UK herd by feeding young calves prion-infected beef and bone meal (Mad Cow Disease Facts). There is solid laboratory evidence between the BSE epidemic in cattle and a human prion disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), first reported in the United Kingdom in 1996. The disease is caused by consumption of made from beef contaminated with nervous system tissue from cattle infected with mad cow disease. It can affect all age groups and is very difficult to diagnose until it has almost run its course. VCJD is fatal, usually within 13 months of the onset of symptoms (The Basics of Mad Cow Disease). The impact that mad cow disease and vCJD have had in the UK has caused fear around the world and led to major changes being implemented in the livestock industry. Context of the Mad Cow Disease Epidemic Prions do not cause any detectable immune or inflammatory response in the host. This is because they are found naturally in animal and human bodies. Therefore they are not recognized as foreign and do not stimulate the immune system. The accumulation of abnormal prions in the brain causes the death of neuronal cells and the accumulation of a type of protein called amyloid in plaques or flat areas and causes degeneration of brain tissue... half of the article... BSE case in a dairy cow born in Alberta in 2004 (Chronology of mad cow disease epidemics). Since 1989, when the first case of BSE was reported outside the UK, a total of 1,088,556 cases have been reported from different countries (Questions and Answers: BSE). The widespread infection of cattle in the United Kingdom with mad cow disease has caused panic around the world and led to major changes in the livestock industry. Mad cow disease caused millions of cattle to be slaughtered to prevent the disease from becoming a worldwide epidemic. Laws have been implemented to regulate what is fed to livestock and what parts of the livestock can be used in animal and human feed to help prevent the spread of disease between cattle and from livestock to humans. The entire world must be vigilant in monitoring and controlling mad cow disease epidemics to prevent another global epidemic.