Traveling to America

Isolated cases of BSE have been reported in the United States. In fact, till May 2007, fourteen cases have been reported from North America-three from the U.S. and eleven from Canada.

variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or vCJD that affects humans, is strongly evidenced to be a variant of BSE, that primarily affects cattle. Both are fatal brain diseases believed to be caused by infectious proteins called prions,which probably underwent spontaneous mutation way back in the ’70’s.

Humans are believed to be affected when they consume cattle products contaminated with the BSE agent. It is also supposed that vCJD can be transmitted during blood transfusions through blood contaminated with the agent. So, in 1999 and 2002, the US Food and Drug Administration published a guidance to reduce the risk of such tranmission of the disease.

For travelers, though the risk is not exactly zero, it is certainly minimal. If still worried, you are advised to avoid beef and its products.