1. What is bovine spongiform encephalopathy? Why is there concern about this disease?
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease, which causes a spongy type of degeneration in the spinal cord and brain of infected cattle.
2. What is colic? Describe at least two different types of colic.
Colic simply means a pain in the stomach. Horses can experience several different types of colic, ranging from relatively minor cases to fatal ones. Impaction colic occurs when a mass of food gets caught in the intestines. Gas colic occurs when gas builds up in the digestive system, often in the intestine, causing it to swell.
3. What is an incubation period? Why would this be important to know about a disease?
Incubation period, or the time from when the animal is first infected to the time when symptoms first appear. For BSE, the incubation period appears to be anywhere from two years to eight years. In addition to the spongy degeneration that occurs in the brain and spinal cord, infected cattle may also experience abnormal posture, difficulty in rising or standing, loss of weight, and changes in temperament.
4. What is glanders? How was it used in warfare?
Glanders, for example, is an infectious disease also caused by a bacterium that can be transferred from horses to humans through direct contact through inhalation, skin abrasions or contact with nasal or oral surfaces. In World War I, the Germans may have deliberately infected Russian horses on the Eastern Front, which became a form of bioterrorism as humans were also infected.
5. What are the symptoms of EPM in horses?
Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is neurological damage caused by lesions on the brain and spinal cord left by protozoa. In the United States, it is estimated that about fifty percent of all horses have been exposed to the organism that causes EPM. However, not all horses will show major signs of the