The example of kuru helped to show how BSE — mad cow disease — spread through the feeding of
infected cattle brains to other animals, and how this led to variant Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease (vCJD).
Experts generally agree that BSE is most likely spread when
cattle are fed meat and bone meal that contains
brain or spinal cord from an
infected animal, although recent atypical cases in the US suggest that more research is needed in this area.