Hughes knew that the meat from a single cow couldn't
How would the disease pass to other cows?
make very many people sick. The real danger was if the
disease was passed to other cows.
• The disease passes from mother cows to their
offspring.
How could that happen? After cows are slaughtered, the
parts you can eat go to meat processing plants to be made
All cows contain the virus and need to be treated for
mad cow disease.
into hamburger and steaks. The parts you can't eat-like
the bones and hooves-are often sent to factories that
Animal products not eaten by humans end up in
grind them into meal for animal feed.
food for animals, which can make them sick.
So the infected parts of the sick cow, like the brain and
Cows that share the same pasture will make each
spinal cord, could have been put in the feed. If so, the
other sick.
disease could spread from herd to herd, creating a mad
cow epidemic, or widespread outbreak.
Hughes studied the report to learn the facts of the case.
-When Birds Get Flu and Cows Go Mad! How Safe Are
We?, John DiConsiglio