Cows for fear: is BSE a threat to human health? Bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

In 1996, a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)-a disease that causes lack of coordination, muscle twitching or jerking, dementia, and, eventually, death-suddenly appeared in Great Britain. It is believed that the victims contracted the disease from eating the beef of cattle stricken with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. As of December 1997, at least 25 people in the United Kingdom and France have contracted vCJD.