March 20, 2006

USDA likely to test offspring calf of BSE-infected cow

The US Department of Agriculture will likely test a six-week-old calf for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), because it is the offspring of a cow confirmed to have contracted the disease, a USDA spokesman said Friday (March 17).

The calf was found on the same Alabama farm where the cow was discovered after brain samples were removed and then sent for testing, USDA press secretary Ed Loyd said.

The USDA confirmed Monday this week the Alabama cow was the third case of BSE found in the US

The cow was exhumed Thursday from where the owner had buried it on an Alabama farm so that government officials could re-examine the animal's teeth to confirm its age and so that DNA samples could be taken to match to any suspected offspring or relatives.

The USDA announced Thursday that experts confirmed the cow had been at least 10 years old, meaning it had been born and possibly infected before the US implemented BSE safeguards for cattle feed in 1997. USDA also revealed Thursday that it had found an offspring of the infected cow--a six-week-old calf--and were taking it to a federal facility in Iowa for observation.

Loyd said he did not know how long the calf will be observed before it is likely killed and tested for BSE.

USDA officials have previously said there is concern over offspring from infected cattle because of the "lack of science around maternal transmission (of BSE)."

The US continues to ban the importation of pregnant cows from Canada, a prohibition put in place after Canada announced its first case of domestic BSE in May 2003.