What are the chances of contracting mad cow? How much beef do you have to consume?

Answer 1

Depends on your location and the stringency of your government. BSE is fairly rare, and generally cannot lead to mad cow in humans unless brain or nerve tissue is consumed. Ground beef can be a problem because they use all different parts of the cow, whereas steaks are generally not a problem.

The prions that cause mad cow are found in the nervous tissue and brains of infected cows, but it does not take much to infect someone. Also, different people are more or less susceptible depending on their genetic makeup, and some people who eat infected beef will never develop the variant Creuzfeldt Jakob Syndrome (mad cow).

Mad Cow is not caused by bacteria, but by defective proteins called prions, thus making it unsusceptible to antibiotics.

Check the link for more information.

Answer 2

You only have to consume one piece of beef that is infected to contract "variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease," which is thought to be caused by the prion that causes "Mad Cow Disease" in bovines (though there is actually no definitive proof that the two diseases are really related). This disease can also be contracted via blood transfusions, if the blood donor had Creutzfeldt-Jakob, which is why they now do not accept donations from people who have spent longer than six months in certain Western European nations that have a higher incidence of Mad Cow.

That said, this is a VERY rare disease, and you probably don't need to worry about it too much. To minimize your chances further, avoid cuts of meat that still have the bones in them (t-bone steaks, for example), as well as ground beef or sausage. Focus instead of lean cuts of muscle meat, which is less likely to have been contaminated. And if you travel to Europe, stick with poultry and seafood instead!

More information on BSE and CJD can be found at the Centers for Disease Control web site: http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/utils/ybGet.asp?section=dis&obj=madcow.htm

Answer 3

It isn't how much you consume; but rather if you consume meat from an infected cow. If you get meat from an infected cow there is nothing you can do to make it safe.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mad-cow-disease/ID00012

Answer 4

Very unlikely that you will develop Jacob Cruszfeldt(sp?) disease, as it's known.
If you are susceptible to the bacteria that causes it, then you'd only have to ingest a single bacteria to possibly contract it.
But, God made our bodies with a marvelous immune system that actually destroys a massive percentage of 'germs' that invade our bodies.
"Mad Cow" probably used to disguise itself as gastroenteritis or food poisoning, but with new science recognizing new diseases, as well as our changes in living styles, has made the mad cow disease resistant to not only certain drugs, but to our immune systems as well.

Answer 5

It's not a matter of how much beef you eat. It's a matter of eating contaminated meat. Fortunately, the beef is pretty thoroughly tracked these days.