Encefalopatia espongiforme bovina

Abstract

This work aims to provide a literature review of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, addressing important concepts, the etiopathogenesis, and impacts on beef production, as well the control and prophylaxis measures established in Brazilian regulations. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease”, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with significant global economic implications. It is caused by the accumulation of proteins with their modified conformation, called prions, found in the animal’s nervous tissue and has the ability to transmit through food. The disease can occur in two forms, in the classic form, affects cattle through the ingestion of prion contaminated food, and the atypical form, occurs spontaneously in cattle. It is considered a zoonosis, leading to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Currently, there is no treatment or vaccine for and the control an prophylaxis are based on sanitary measures in various regulations of the government, such as control in the manufacturing of rations for ruminants, prohibition of feeding ruminants with animal origin products, removal, segregation and incineration of ruminants from countries with unknown or high risk for the disease, collection and analysis of the brainstem of ruminants with clinical nervous signs in slaughterhouses, notification of suspected cases to authorities and routine supervision and sanitary inspection in slaughterhouses.