Mad cow disease is a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and spinal cord in cattle, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) . People cannot get mad cow disease, but in rare cases, they may get a human form of mad cow disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which is fatal. vCJD destroys the brain and spinal cord over time, and symptoms include depression, loss of coordination, serious declines in memory, thinking, and behavior, and dementia. The disease is caused by eating beef products contaminated with central nervous system tissue, such as brain and spinal cord, from cattle infected with mad cow disease. The time it takes for symptoms to occur after exposure to the disease is not known for sure, but experts think it is years. There is no cure for vCJD, and treatment includes managing the symptoms that occur as the disease gets worse. Milk and milk products are not believed to pose any risk for transmitting mad cow disease to humans.