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by Matthew Brown
Cases of mad cow disease have subsided in recent years, but what have we learned?
狂牛病的案例近年來已有減少的跡象，但我們從中學到什麼教訓？
In 1984, a cow in Britain fell ill. The disease was found to be a new one, and people's worst fears quickly came true. The disease rapidly spread among cattle in Britain and even infected humans that had eaten the tainted beef. From the time the UK Ministry of Agriculture accepted that there was a new disease in 1986 until October 2009, 165 people had died of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease (MCD).
The story of MCD is not pretty. Along with the 165 human fatalities, more than 179,000 cattle had been infected in the UK alone. Raising cattle and producing beef is a major industry, and the need to stop the disease from spreading was an urgent one. Therefore, some 4.4 million cows were slaughtered in an effort to eradicate the disease.
MCD attacks the brains and spinal cords of cattle. The deterioration of their brains affects their behavior, which is the reason for the name of the disease. The disease seems to be caused and spread only by cattle eating other cattle. Cows are herbivores, so how do they eat other cows? The answer again is not very pleasant. To save money on cattle feed, farmers oftentimes grind up the remains of dead cows and combine it with their normal food. Since the feed is ground and mixed together, it's hard to tell which food has been contaminated or which cows may have consumed it.
Thanks to the enormous slaughter of the cattle that might have been infected, the disease now seems to be under control. Only five or so cases per year have been found in recent years. However, the disease is not fully understood, and as demonstrated by the recent protests in Taiwan, people are still worried. Some people believe that MCD shows us that farming methods and slaughtering practices are not totally safe, healthy, or reliable.
1. How was MCD controlled?
(A) Everyone in the world stopped eating beef.
(B) Cattle were fed only grain.
(C) A large number of cattle were put to death.
(D) New drugs were quickly injected into infected cattle.
2. How did MCD get its name?
(A) Infected cows started behaving strangely.
(B) Cows started to go insane when they were about to be slaughtered.
(C) The name refers to the panic people feel about the disease.
(D) Farmers were very upset about the slaughtering of their precious meat.
3. MCD spreads when _____.
(A) cows are slaughtered in large numbers
(B) cows attack and eat each other
(C) cows eat food that contains parts of other cows
(D) cows mix with other animals
4. According to the article, has MCD been stopped?
(A) Yes, it has been stopped completely.
(B) It seems to have been mostly stopped.
(C) No, it is still spreading quickly.
(D) It was stopped in 1984, the year it started.
1984 年英國的一隻牛生病了。該疾病被證實是一種新疾病，人們心底的恐懼很快就成真了。這種疾病在英國的牛隻間迅速傳開來，甚至連食用到受感染牛肉的人，也遭到感染。從英國農業部長在 1986 年確認這是一種新的疾病，到 2009 年 10月為止，已有 165 人死於『牛海綿狀腦病』，也就是一般俗稱的『狂牛病』。
狂牛病的內情並不光採。除了這 165 名死於該疾病的患者外，光是英國就還有 17 萬 9 千頭牛感染此疾病。飼養牛隻與生產牛肉是個龐大的產業，首要之務便是阻止該疾病擴散。因此，約有 4 百 40 萬頭牛隻遭到撲殺，好杜絕該疾病。
狂牛病會攻擊牛的腦部和脊髓神經。腦部受損會影響牛隻的行為，這也是狂牛病這個名稱的由來。該疾病似乎是因為牛隻吃到其他牛所造成並傳染開來。牛是草食動物，那麼牠們怎麼會吃其他牛隻呢？原因一樣不很光採。為了省飼料錢，飼主往往把死牛的屍體磨碎，再和普通飼料混在一起。因為飼料已經被磨碎攪拌在一起，所以很難分辨哪裡的飼料受到汙染，或是哪些牛可能已經把飼料吃下肚。
由於大規模撲殺可能受到感染的牛隻，狂牛病現在似乎得到控制。近年來每年大約只有 5 起病例發生。然而，該疾病尚未被全盤了解，而最近在臺灣所發生的抗議顯示出民眾仍然非常擔心。有些人認為狂牛病顯示，飼養方式和屠宰的程序並非百分之百安全、健康和可信賴。
標準答案: 1. (C)2. (A)3. (C)4. (B)
For Your Information
狂牛病據信是由於『朊毒體』（prion）引起的。所謂的『朊毒體』是一類不含核酸而僅由蛋白質構成、可自我複製並具感染性的因子。朊毒體具體的活動和複製機制目前還不是很清楚，但是它們通常被認為是引起傳染性海綿狀腦病的原因（例如狂牛病和羊騷症）。
當英國和美國相繼爆發狂牛病後，澳大利亞及紐西蘭則因從未發生狂牛症病例而受惠，受到牛肉消費國的歡迎；這兩個國家順利吃下原先美國牛肉的市場，即使美國牛在部分國家重新開放後，仍無法撼動其市佔率，成為狂牛病風暴中少數受惠的牛肉生產國。（數據源：維基百科）
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