English Comprehension What is mad cow disease

What is Mad Cow Disease ?

Mad cow disease, which also is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, causes damage to the cow's brain. Signs that the cow is sick include trouble walking. Eventually the sick cow's legs can't hold it up and it stumbles and falls. Sick animals also may act very nervous or violent.

Scientists aren't exactly sure how cows get this disease, but it probably happens when cows eat feed made from cows infected with mad cow disease.
Can People Get Mad Cow Disease?

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As of November 2005, 184 people worldwide are known to have become sick with the human kind of mad cow disease. It is believed that such people got infected from eating beef products that came from cows infected with mad cow disease.

This disease is not contagious. This means that you (or a cow) can't catch it from someone else the way you catch a cold. Also, research to shows that you can't get mad cow disease from milk, even if the milk comes from a sick cow.

Cats are the only pets that are known to have mad cow disease. The same things that are being done to protect people and cows are also protecting cats from getting the disease.

Multiple-Choice Question:

1. Which part of a cow does a mad cow disease affect?

(A) lungs              (B) skin                (C) heart              (D) brain

2. Which of the following is a symptom of mad cow disease?

(A) Trouble breathing                     (B) Trouble walking

(C) Trouble seeing objects              (D) The colour of the milk changes

3. How do human get infected with Mad Cow Disease?

(A) By drinking milk from cows that had BSE

(B) By eating flesh of cows that are infected with BSE

(C) By touching infected cows

(D) Through air

4. The Mad Cow Disease can damage the cow’s

(A) Lungs             (B) Heart              (C) Brain              (D) Kidney

5. The only pets that can get The Mad Cow Disease are

(A) cats                (B) cows               (C) dogs               (D) sheep

6. Find out a word in the passage which means the same as ‘infectious’

(A) contagious    (B) damage          (C) disease           (D) sick

7. Pick out a pair of words having similar meaning

(A) Sick, healthy                              (B) Save, protect

(C) Wild, pets                                   (D) Mad, wise

8. Find out two words in the passage that are antonyms

(A) Happens, occurs                        (B) Believed, accepted

       (C) stumbles, falls                            (D) diseased, healthy

9. Complete the statement, “Eventually the sick cow’s leg _____”

(A) show black patches.                  (B) bend inwards.

(C) become very weak.                   (D) can’t hold it and it stumbles.

10. Explain the meaning of contagious

(A) you can catch it from others.   (B) you can’t catch it from others.

(C) it is not air-borne.                      (D) it is not easily spread.

Answer key

(1)–(D); (2)–(B); (3)–(B); (4)–(C); (5)–(A); (6)–(A); (7)–(B); (8)–(D); (9)–(D); (10)–(A)