mad cow..again

In Alabama this week there has been a confirmed case of mad cow disease. This is the third in the United States since December of 2003. Mad cow disease is believed to be carried by animal feed made from cattle brains or spinal cord. Such feed has been banned in the United States, but cases of mad cow have continued to appear around the world. This case and other cases may appear to be harmless and isolated, however it is very difficult to prevent or even detect mad cow disease under the current voluntary testing regimen. The news of confirmed cases of mad cow disease in the United States makes it difficult to convince other countries that United States' beef is safe.

The possibility of a mad cow disease epidemic can be compared to the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. The influenza pandemic was the unusually severe and deadly strain of avian influenza. This pandemic killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million people worldwide. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. The influenza of 1918-1919, also known as the "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe", was a global disaster. It represents what could happen with any disease carried by food or animals, like mad cow disease.