what is the etiology (cause of bse)
What causes BSE? The nature of the infectious agent that causes BSE and scrapie is unknown. Currently, the most accepted theory is that the agent is a modified form of a normal cell protein known as a prion. A prion is not a bacterium, parasite, or virus, and thus treatments usually used for treating or preventing bacterial infections (e.g. antibiotics) or viral infections are not effective against prions.