Mad cow disease. Rather than being a human health issue, it s an economic nightmare, because even though most animals recover, the disease leaves them debilitated, causing severe losses in the production of meat and milk. The virus that causes FMD spreads so quickly and easily that the only way to contain it is to destroy all the livestock that has been exposed. The USDA has banned importation of European agricultural products and tourists to the United Kingdom have been restricted to limit the spread of the disease. This is thought to be transmitted through feeding byproducts of infected animals to cattle.
Humans acquire the disease by consuming infected beef.
However, the disease has been limited to Europe. For travelers to Europe, the risk of acquiring the disease is very small. To reduce this risk even further while traveling, you can avoid all beef and beef products or select solid pieces of muscle meat that have reduced risk of contamination compared with products such as sausage and hamburger.