Case of mad cow disease is identified on a Somerset farm as officials seal off the area to stop infection spreading By Harry Howard For Mailonline Published: 20:48 BST, 17 September 2021 | Updated: 20:50 BST, 17 September 2021 Viewcomments A case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - an infection commonly known as mad cow disease - has been confirmed on a farm in Somerset. The Animal and Plant Health Agency said the infected animal was dead and had been removed from the farm. It said there was 'no risk to food safety'. A case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - an infection commonly known as mad cow disease - has been confirmed on a farm in Somerset (file photo) The agency said precautionary movement restrictions have been put in place to stop the movement of livestock in the area while further investigations continue to identify the origin of the disease. More to follow. WHAT IS MAD COW DISEASE? Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a fatal neurological disease in cattle caused by an abnormal protein that destroys the brain and spinal cord. The disease was first identified in Great Britain in 1986, although research suggests the first infections may have spontaneously occurred in the 1970s. It is believed to be spread by feeding calves meat and bone meal contaminated with BSE. Humans can contract variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) if beef products contaminated with central nervous system tissue from cattle infected with mad cow disease are eaten. There is no treatment and 177 people have been killed by the variant. There were 36,000 diagnosed cases of mad cow disease in Great Britain in 1992, leading to British beef exports being banned and dozens of people dying. In August 1996, a British coroner ruled that Peter Hall, a 20-year old vegetarian who died of vCJD, contracted the disease from eating beef burgers as a child. The verdict was the first to legally link a human death to mad cow disease. Advertisement Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility