March 17, 2006

 

US confirms BSE-infected cow at least ten years old

 

 

The US Department of Agriculture said Thursday (March 16) evening that government experts have confirmed an earlier estimate that an Alabama cow confirmed positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was at least 10 years old.

 

That means the cow was born and possibly infected before US cattle feed safety rules were put in place in 1997 by the US Food and Drug Administration.

 

The USDA also announced Thursday that it has located one offspring of the BSE-infected cow, a 6-week-old calf that has been sent to USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, for observation.

 

Ron DeHaven, administrator of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said dentition as age indicator can be useful but is also limited.

 

"After five years old, it is an approximation, but a good approximation in terms of looking at the amount of wear on the teeth," DeHaven said earlier Thursday.

 

The USDA also said it took DNA samples from the cow to confirm that it is the same animal from which brain samples were removed and sent to laboratories for BSE testing. The DNA also will be used to match other suspected offspring from the infected cow as well as siblings, the USDA said.

 

The infected cow was buried on an Alabama farm after brain samples were sent away for BSE testing. The USDA on Monday confirmed the cow was the third BSE case found in the US and on Thursday exhumed the cow's carcass.

 

Countries such as Japan and South Korea, formerly major foreign markets for US beef, have expressed concern over the age of the BSE-infected cow.

 

If a BSE-infected cow were to be shown to have been born after the US cattle feed safety rules were in place, that could cast doubt on the effectiveness of a key US safeguard against spread of the disease in US herds.

 

Alabama and federal government officials are scheduled to hold a press conference Friday to further discuss the exhumation of the cow.