July 1, 2004

US Mad-Cow First Inconclusive Test Confirmed Negative

The first finding of an "inconclusive" screening test result for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, announced Friday, has been confirmed negative by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a Wednesday briefing.

USDA announced the finding of an "inconclusive" screening result late Friday, and that prompted a brain sample to be sent to the department's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, to confirm whether it was positive or negative for BSE.

John Clifford, USDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters Wednesday that the department will not release any details about the animal or where it was located.

USDA announced Tuesday night the finding of a second BSE "inconclusive" rapid screening test result, and Clifford said Wednesday that is in the confirmatory process now at USDA's Ames, Iowa, laboratory.

Clifford said 8,585 BSE screening tests, as of Monday, have been performed on cattle since June 1 when USDA began a massive new effort over 12 to 18 months to get a "snapshot" of BSE prevalence by testing as many as 268,000 cattle in the U.S. So far, all but two have resulted in negative findings.

In a meeting with reporters last week, Clifford said: "If you have a reaction from a rapid screening test, that is what we're classifying as an inconclusive sample. It doesn't mean the sample is positive for BSE. It doesn't mean it's negative for BSE."

Japan and South Korea continue to maintain a complete ban on U.S. beef since a BSE case was discovered here in December, but Mexico and Canada have opened up to some U.S. beef.