- TOKYO (AFP) -- Japanese authorities
said today they have found a new suspected case of mad cow disease. If
confirmed, the 21-month-old Holstein would be the country's ninth confirmed
case.
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- "We will have a panel of experts to decide whether
it is a new case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephelopathy) or not,"
said a health ministry official. The outcome of the experts' meeting is
due to be announced later in the day.
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- The Holstein, which was born in Hyogo prefecture, western
Japan and raised in Hiroshima prefecture, tested positive in a preliminary
test for BSE on October 29, the official said, adding that researchers
were still making final tests.
-
- The discovery of the new suspected case in such a young
animal came roughly a month after Japanese authorities confirmed that a
23-month-old male Holstein died of a new strain of mad cow disease in eastern
Japan.
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- The health ministry official declined to comment on possible
links between the two animals.
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- Japan last month isolated some 2,500 cows on seven farms
that may have been raised with the 23-month-old bullock.
-
- The farm ministry confirmed last month that the bullock
was born in October 2001, the same month Japan banned meat-and-bone meal,
generally regarded as the main route of infection.
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- The animal was far younger than all the cows so far infected
in Japan, which were at least five years old.
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- Japan, the only country in Asia to have confirmed BSE,
uncovered its first case in September 2001.
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- Copyright 2003 News Limited.
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- http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7767425%255E1702,00.html
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