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American Morning

Look Into Mad Cow

Aired December 24, 2003 - 08:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some of the countries that buy the most American beef have already stopped imports after learning that the U.S. has its first suspected case of mad cow disease. The sick animal came from a farm in Washington State. It is what was called a downer animal, meaning that it was unable to walk when it reached the slaughter. That condition automatically triggers testing under USDA rules.
Earlier this morning, we got an update about the case from Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN VENEMAN, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: We do know that the product has gone into further processing plants from the initial slaughter plant and we are now tracing that product. We've issued a recall for about 10,000 pounds of meat, which is a relatively small recall. And we'll be tracing that forward to see where the product went and to remove it from the food supply.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That was the agriculture secretary, Ann Veneman.

Let's talk a little bit about it. She talks, she's obviously minimizing the risks to some degree. That is her job.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

O'BRIEN: Put it in perspective for us.

How big of a problem is this for human beings? And is it transmitted from cattle right to humans?

GUPTA: Well, it can be if you eat some of the infected parts, usually not human to human. But a lot of information out there. I mean we know a little bit about how mad cow or BSE, as the term is being thrown around, how that affects cows. BSE, incidentally, stands for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. A big name.

It's a degenerative have fatal disease affecting the nervous system of adult cattles. That's why everyone's focused so much on brains and spinal cords.

Now, in humans, mad cow goes by a different name. It's Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or VCJD. The name is not that important. But here's what's important. Humans can contract VCJD by eating meat contaminated with diseased brain or spinal column material. BSE is not found in muscle cuts of meat like steaks and roasts, which is why the secretary keeps mentioning that, as well.

VCJD is very difficult to transmit from one person to another and there's no test for it. So people can be infected for up to 10 to 15 years before showing any symptoms. It's hard to remember what you were eating that long ago.

The chances of this spreading to humans is pretty slim, but if humans did contract it, the symptoms include early in the illness patients experiencing psychiatric symptoms like depression or schizophrenia; unusual sensory systems, such as stickiness of the skin. They've also described cases in about half of the illnesses neurological signs including unsteadiness, difficulty walking, involuntary movements can developed as the illness progress, as well. And by the time of death, patients become completely immobile and mute.

About 129 cases of VCJD have been reported in the U.K. The U.K. is where most of those infections in cows and humans have been found. Also, six in France, one each in Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Again, an important thing, the probability of widespread infection very slim at this point. For example, in the U.K., where there are about 60,000 -- I'm sorry, 60 million -- 60,000 to 80,000 infected cows, approximately 150 out of the 60 million people developed the disease. Important to remember that officials are saying it's safe to eat meat this holiday.

Now, you know, it's a very, very slim chance of actually getting out there and finding its way onto any of our tables.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Sanjay, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 24, 2003 - 08:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some of the countries that buy the most American beef have already stopped imports after learning that the U.S. has its first suspected case of mad cow disease. The sick animal came from a farm in Washington State. It is what was called a downer animal, meaning that it was unable to walk when it reached the slaughter. That condition automatically triggers testing under USDA rules.
Earlier this morning, we got an update about the case from Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN VENEMAN, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: We do know that the product has gone into further processing plants from the initial slaughter plant and we are now tracing that product. We've issued a recall for about 10,000 pounds of meat, which is a relatively small recall. And we'll be tracing that forward to see where the product went and to remove it from the food supply.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That was the agriculture secretary, Ann Veneman.

Let's talk a little bit about it. She talks, she's obviously minimizing the risks to some degree. That is her job.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

O'BRIEN: Put it in perspective for us.

How big of a problem is this for human beings? And is it transmitted from cattle right to humans?

GUPTA: Well, it can be if you eat some of the infected parts, usually not human to human. But a lot of information out there. I mean we know a little bit about how mad cow or BSE, as the term is being thrown around, how that affects cows. BSE, incidentally, stands for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. A big name.

It's a degenerative have fatal disease affecting the nervous system of adult cattles. That's why everyone's focused so much on brains and spinal cords.

Now, in humans, mad cow goes by a different name. It's Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or VCJD. The name is not that important. But here's what's important. Humans can contract VCJD by eating meat contaminated with diseased brain or spinal column material. BSE is not found in muscle cuts of meat like steaks and roasts, which is why the secretary keeps mentioning that, as well.

VCJD is very difficult to transmit from one person to another and there's no test for it. So people can be infected for up to 10 to 15 years before showing any symptoms. It's hard to remember what you were eating that long ago.

The chances of this spreading to humans is pretty slim, but if humans did contract it, the symptoms include early in the illness patients experiencing psychiatric symptoms like depression or schizophrenia; unusual sensory systems, such as stickiness of the skin. They've also described cases in about half of the illnesses neurological signs including unsteadiness, difficulty walking, involuntary movements can developed as the illness progress, as well. And by the time of death, patients become completely immobile and mute.

About 129 cases of VCJD have been reported in the U.K. The U.K. is where most of those infections in cows and humans have been found. Also, six in France, one each in Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Again, an important thing, the probability of widespread infection very slim at this point. For example, in the U.K., where there are about 60,000 -- I'm sorry, 60 million -- 60,000 to 80,000 infected cows, approximately 150 out of the 60 million people developed the disease. Important to remember that officials are saying it's safe to eat meat this holiday.

Now, you know, it's a very, very slim chance of actually getting out there and finding its way onto any of our tables.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Sanjay, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com