When the epidemic peaked in Britain in 1992, millions of cattle were destroyed and dozens of people died. Mad-cow is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that is caused by an abnormal protein. There's no way to treat it. But the FDA took steps to keep Mad Cow from spreading to the United States. To date, there's never been a single case of it detected in the United States.
Experts believe that the chance of contracting mad-cow from U.S. beef is quite small.
We can't say the likelihood is zero, but it's close. It's a highly contagious virus that strikes cattle, goats, pigs and sheep. The disease doesn't effect humans. Humans can be at risk to animals. Any outbreak would mean euthanizing animals to keep the virus from spreading.