Mad Cow Disease News and Research

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Mad Cow Disease or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called a prion. The nature of the transmissible agent is not well understood. Currently, the most accepted theory is that the agent is a modified form of a normal protein known as prion protein. For reasons that are not yet understood, the normal prion protein changes into a pathogenic (harmful) form that then damages the central nervous system of cattle.

Researchers track how chronic wasting disease spreads to other species

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is generally associated with animals. But a new study by researchers from the University of Calgary and international collaborators explored the potential for CWD to spread from deer, elk and other cervid (hooved, plant-eating) animals to other species.

11 Jun 2026

Ex-eye bank workers say pressure, lax oversight led to errors

William Lopez remembers clearly the day in June 2017 when he says he was asked to call the spouse of a college friend who had just died and ask for her eyes.

20 Nov 2024

CHARMs: A new hope for prion disease therapy

Drug development is typically slow: the pipeline from basic research discoveries that provide the basis for a new drug to clinical trials to production of a widely available medicine can take decades.

27 Jun 2024

Study confirms strong barrier preventing chronic wasting disease transmission to humans

A new study of prion diseases, using a human cerebral organoid model, suggests there is a substantial species barrier preventing transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) from cervids - deer, elk and moose - to people.

17 May 2024

Repurposing human-approved drugs for prion disease treatment

Prions are the abnormal, pathogenic agents that are transmissible and are able to induce abnormal folding of specific normal cellular proteins.

16 May 2024

Possibility of wildlife-to-human crossover heightens concern about chronic wasting disease

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America make their way into forests and grasslands to kill deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

2 Feb 2024

Brain changes can be studied in very early stages of neurodegenerative diseases

Many changes take place in the brain long before symptoms appear. This has been shown in mice in two studies of prion diseases in which the brain gradually deteriorates.

10 Oct 2022

NPDPSC at Case Western Reserve University to receive CDC funding for better understanding of prion diseases

The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University will receive up to $20 million in funding as part of a grant renewal from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand how and why prion diseases––degenerative brain conditions found in both humans and animals - develop and spread.

20 Sep 2022

Researchers uncover the structure of protein fibrils linked to hereditary form of human prion disease

In a new study, researchers from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified the structure of protein fibrils linked to a hereditary form of human prion disease.

12 Sep 2022

Prion imaging could lead to better understanding of what causes fatal neurological disorders

Prion diseases are incurable, deadly neurological disorders that can affect both humans and animals–including Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in people, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (also known as Mad Cow Disease) and Chronic Wasting Disease found in deer.

13 Jul 2022

The emergence of infectious diseases from the "germ’s eye view”

The study highlighted that the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that human societies remain ill-prepared and susceptible to novel infectious diseases.

16 Feb 2022

Toxic fatty acids trigger cell death in damaged neurons

Cells that normally nourish healthy brain cells called neurons release toxic fatty acids after neurons are damaged, a new study in rodents shows.

6 Oct 2021

Study provides renewed hope for treating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

Nanosized molecules of a particular chemical element can inhibit the formation of plaque in the brain tissues. This new discovery by researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, in collaboration with researchers in Croatia and Lithuania, provides renewed hope for novel treatments of, for instance, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease in the long run.

1 Jul 2021

First insights into human prion disease could help tackle neurodegenerative diseases

Surface features of human prions have been identified for the first time, which may provide key information into treatments of neurodegenerative diseases.

18 Jun 2021

Study finds new clues to explain how Alzheimer’s disease spreads in the brain

Case Western Reserve University researchers studying prions - misfolded proteins that cause lethal incurable diseases - have identified for the first time surface features of human prions responsible for their replication in the brain.

18 Jun 2021

Researchers identify structure of agent that causes Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

Alzheimer's disease - also called dementia - where memory and cognitive functions gradually decline due to deformation and death of neurons, and Parkinson's disease that causes tremors in hands and arms impeding normal movement are major neurodegenerative diseases.

26 May 2021

Simple skin test can accurately identify Parkinson's disease, research shows

New research shows a simple skin test can accurately identify Parkinson's disease, demonstrating for the first time the feasibility of the method.

21 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a protein that facilitates spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus through cells

Eric Ross and Sean Cascarina, biochemistry and molecular biology researchers at Colorado State University, have released a research paper identifying a protein encoded by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that may be associated with the quick spread of the virus through cells in the human body.

13 Aug 2020

New treatment approach for Alzheimer's disease

A new study published in The Journal of Physiology has shown that misfolded protein build-up in the gut could contribute to the development of Alzheimer's-like symptoms in mice.

3 Jul 2020

New breakthrough may help cure prion disease

A molecular biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has for decades studied the nightmarish group of fatal diseases caused by prions - chronic wasting disease in deer, mad cow in cattle and its human analog - credits a middle-of-the-night dream for a crucial insight, a breakthrough she hopes could lead to a cure.

6 May 2020