It eats holes in the brain to where it looks like a sponge. Eight died and British officials linked their deaths to tainted beef. But national studies and constant surveillance of foreign and exotic diseases have kept the disease from trickling into the United States, Griffin said. The United States quit importing British beef in 1986. It is one of 20 countries to impose such a ban.
Experts believe that British cattle became infected through sheep by-products used in cattle feed.
Griffin said that once eaten, a virus develops that incubates in nerve tissue and eventually eats away at the brain. The feed was banned in 1988. Still, recent international reports of the disease could have a negative effect on the beef industry. Lawrence Yates of Kearney, executive director of the Nebraska Beef Council, said it's important that consumers know that the beef they eat is safe. The cautious and overreacting ones might quit eating beef.