Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as Mad Cow Disease, broke out in the United Kingdom in 1993, affecting about 180,000 cattle and over 150 humans with the human-form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or vCJD. Genetic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are often caused by prions, but there are also variant forms that occur sporadically. This is what makes vCJD so intriguing; it is the only prion disease that humans can develop through transmission.

Prions are misfolded proteins that act as aggregates, misfolding other proteins that come into contact with it, causing a cell to die. This can spread to other cells, causing holes in the brain. Not all prions act as aggregates; sometimes the body disposes of a prion before it can misfold other proteins and kill other cells. This is what would distinguish a “carrier” from an affected organism. In a recent study published in the British Medical Journal, British researcher Roland Salmon found that 16 out of 32,000 people carried the deadly prion proteins.

“I’m a vegetarian, the industry is already disgusting,” said junior Karen Hood. Ritchii Kara, a vegetarian from Brighton, England, was diagnosed with vCJD in August of 2013. Kara had been meat-free for several years, causing health care officials to further research BSE in the UK. This recent scare, along with the one in 1993, has caused panic in meat-eaters everywhere. BSE has only been found in the United States four times, the most recent in California in 2012. “Meats raised non-organically are disgusting,” said freshman Emma Smith, “Locally raised meats are more humane and aren’t exposed to tens of thousands of other cows, which could help limit exposure [of BSE].” It has never entered the food supply industry in the United States. “The Mad Cow crisis is turning many people into unwilling vegetarians,” said one anonymous MIT student in the school newspaper.