Which of the following is a correct statement about differential diagnoses for BSE?

• A. Nervous ketosis and rabies
• B. Polioencephalomalacia and listeriosis
• C. Nervous ketosis and listeriosis
• D. Both Nervous ketosis and rabies and Polioencephalomalacia and listeriosis

Answer: (D)

When thinking about BSE, you must consider other conditions that can produce similar central nervous system signs in cattle. Both infectious CNS diseases like rabies and listeriosis and metabolic/nutritional CNS disorders such as polioencephalomalacia and nervous ketosis can mimic BSE clinically. Including both pairs captures the full range of realistic differential diagnoses a clinician would consider, since either infectious or metabolic causes can present with comparable neurological signs. In practice, differentiation relies on history, exposure risk, specific neurologic findings, and diagnostic tests or postmortem examination to distinguish prion disease from these other conditions.