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10,410
Pounds of raw beef recalled on December 23, 2003
125 million
Pounds of beef the U.S. has imported from countries known
to have cattle infected with mad cow disease, or bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
450
Calves killed so far because of ties to BSE-infected cow
3
Hours to liquefy a BSE-contaminated cow in liquid lye
6
Hours to destroy mad cow prions in liquid lye
0
Epidemiology papers that show a causal link between BSE
and the human form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)
153
Total number of cases of vCJD worldwide
93
Percent of those cases reported in the U.K.
40
Estimated maximum incubation period of vCJD, in years
14
Median time, in months, from onset of symptoms to death
0
Cures or treatments for vCJD
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CJD Foundation, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. General Accounting Office,
Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, World Health Organization