In 2007 my father in law had a sudden attack of dementia and rapidly digressed until he was bedridden and did not recognize family. He died within three months.
The Doctors diagnosed him with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or the human form of mad cow disease. He was in a hospital in South Africa and the family was told they could not do an autopsy to confirm the disease. It was so contagious that there were no pathologists willing to take the risk.
On April 23, 2012, mad cow disease was discovered here in California. The government reported it is the first case in the United States in six years.
The USDA says this does not threaten the safety of the food supply for two reasons. The cow was never meant for human consumption, but rather for pet food. Plus, it had a rare form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which is caused by spontaneous mutation. The type that caused outbreaks and deaths in England in the 1980s and 1990s was caused from eating feed made out of bone and tissue from infected cattle.
However, humans can contact Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from cows with both forms of mad cow disease.
According to NPR, the US tests 40,000 cattle per year. Wiki answers, estimates approximately 230 million cattle in the US.
The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that mad cow disease affects only 0.167 cows per mission in the United States (NPR ) and that our food supply is perfectly safe.
I am not worried as I rarely eat meat nor drink milk. I do know that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is always fatal and a terrible way to die. Even more, it is traumatic for the family.
My apologies go out to the Chick Filet Cow and I will support his cause! I will stick to chicken for now.