November 6, 2003

Italian Cow Tested Positive for BSE
 

Another Italian cow has tested positive for mad cow disease, hence raising the total number of cases of the brain-wasting disease in the country's herds to 114 since the start of 2001.

The Health Ministry said yesterday that the latest case was found on a breeding farm in the countryside outside Milan.

Under European Union rules, cattle older than 30 months and destined for slaughter must be tested for the disease. In Italy, 50 cases were reported in 2001. When the mandatory testing began, there were a total reported cases of 36 in 2002, and 28 so far this year.

This summer, a young Sicilian woman died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, becoming the Italy's first victim of the illness linked to mad cow disease.