section_path: Health/Pests and diseases
section_name: Pests and diseases
paragraph_text: Pests and diseases
  
  Cattle are subject to pests including arthropod parasites such as ticks (which can in turn transmit diseases caused by bacteria and protozoa), and diseases caused by pathogens including bacteria and viruses. Some viral diseases are spread by insects - i.e. bluetongue disease is spread by midges. Psoroptic mange is a disabling skin condition caused by mites. Bovine tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium; it causes disease in humans and in wild animals such as deer and badgers. Foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus, affects a range of hoofed livestock and is highly contagious. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a neurodegenerative disease spread by a prion, a misfolded brain protein, in contaminated meat. Among the intestinal parasites of cattle are Paramphistomum flukes, affecting the rumen, and hookworms in the small intestine.