Mad Cow prions neck tie, burnt orange

Mad Cow Disease (formally, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) is a degenerative, fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle.  It's believed that BSE is caused by a protein gone bad, called a Prion.  A similar disease in humans is called variant CJD, and is believed to be caused by eating neural tissues from BSE-infected cattle.  Our design depicts a few bad guys glomming on to the good guys, eventually taking over and turning them all-bad.  The twig-like structures in the background represent another configuration of these prions.  Needless to say, none of this is good for your burger.

Information courtesy of Infectious Awareables