The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a recent death in Texas was due to a fatal brain disorder known as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Variant CJD is believed to be caused by consumption of beef from cows with mad cow disease.
Over 220 patients have been diagnosed with Variant CJD throughout the world, 177 of them in the United Kingdom. The Texan was the fourth known case in the United States, and as with the previous cases, the disease was likely acquired overseas. The patient is known to have been traveling at length to Europe and the Middle East, according to the CDC.
Chris Taylor, the executive director of Cherokee County Public Health, advises meat eaters to take precautions.
“It can be as easy as asking your server where the food they sell is purchased,” he said, as reported by the Jacksonville Daily Progress.
If the server cannot provide that information, Taylor advises that you think twice before you have a cow.