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Three Cows From Mad-Cow
Herd Traced To Idaho

From Patricia Doyle, PhD
dr_p_doyle@hotmail.com
1-25-4



Hello Jeff - The Promed Moderator says it all:
 
"Sadly, this article does not indicate the cause of death of the cow in question. This article states the cow did not have BSE, but it provides us with no details as to how that conclusion was reached." - Mod.TG]
 
Looks like we got a lot of double talk from the Idaho State Vet. How can they state that the cow did not have BSE without telling us that the cow was tested for it. They also state that the cow did not enter the food chain without telling us wheter or not the cow went to render.
 
No wonder people have no confidence in the US food supply.
 
Patricia Doyle
 
BSE, BOVINE - USA (WA) (14)
 
A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail, a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org
 
[1] Date: 23 Jan 2004 From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org> Source:Dow Jones newswires http://www.quicken.com/investments/news_center/story/?story=NewsStory
dowJones/20040123/ON200401230927000342.var&column=P0DFP
 
Three Canadian Cows From Mad-Cow Herd Traced To Idaho 1-23-4
 
BOISE, Idaho -- Three cows from an imported Canadian herd that included a BSE-infected Holstein have been traced to a dairy farm in Burley, Idaho, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says.
 
One of the cows already died, while 2 others are alive. The state Department of Agriculture placed a hold order on the farm where they were found to prevent any animals from leaving, Nolan Lemon, a USDA spokesman, said Thursday.
 
State Veterinarian Clarence Siroky announced earlier that a dairyman in Burley had purchased 1 cow from the Canadian herd in late 2002. The animal became sick last March 18 and died March 23. Mr. Siroky said the cow didn't have mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which eats holes in the brains of cattle.
 
The disease [BSE] is a public health concern because humans can develop a brain-wasting illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), from consuming contaminated beef products.
 
The 1 calf the now-deceased cow had while in Idaho was stillborn, Mr. Siroky said. Neither was slaughtered for food.
 
State agriculture officials said late Thursday they had not yet been advised that 2 more cows were traced to the farm.
 
Mr. Siroky said he was notified by federal officials last Saturday of the possibility that 1 of the Canadian cattle had been shipped to Idaho but it took until Tuesday to verify it.
 
Federal agriculture officials announced Dec. 23 that a dairy cow at a central Washington farm had tested positive for the disease. The cow was slaughtered Dec. 9.
 
Investigators later traced that cow to a herd of 81 cattle that entered the United States from Alberta, Canada in 2001. They have since been working to trace the remaining animals in the herd.
 
The findings in Idaho bring the number of located cows to 26. The other 23 were located at five central Washington farms.
 
Mr. Siroky declined to identify the Burley dairyman.
 
"He has been extremely cooperative, a very upfront person," Mr. Siroky said.
 
The other 5,000 cows in the farmer's herd were physically inspected on Wednesday, and background information on all of them was forwarded to investigators trying to account for all 81 animals.
 
It will take at least 2 weeks to cross-check information on the history of the Burley herd with that of the suspect cattle from Canada to determine whether any more of those cows are in Burley, Mr. Siroky said. -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
 
[Sadly, this article does not indicate the cause of death of the cow in question. This article states the cow did not have BSE, but it provides us with no details as to how that conclusion was reached. - Mod.TG]
 
****** [2] Date: 23 Jan 2004 From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org> Source: USDA, BSE update 23 Jan 2004 http://www.usda.gov
 
Release No. 0037.04
 
BSE Update - January 23, 2004
 
USDA's investigation into the 81 cattle that came from Canada continues. In addition to the 26 cattle already located, an additional animal has been located at a facility in Moxee, Washington. The State has placed a hold on the facility. In total, 27 of the 81 cattle that came from Canada have been located:
 
*One of the 81 was the positive cow.
 
* One has been located at a facility in Moxee, Washington.
 
* Three have been located at a facility in Burley, Idaho.
 
* Three have been located at a facility in Tenino, Washington.
 
* Six have been located at a facility in Connell, Washington.
 
* One has been located at a facility in Quincy, Washington.
 
* Three were at a facility in Mattawa, Washington.
 
* Nine were in the index herd.
 
USDA has transported and sampled a total of 39 animals from the Mattawa facility and 131 animals from the index premises. To date, all 170 samples from the index herd and the Mattawa herd have completed testing; results were negative.
 
Epidemiological Policy
 
APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service) has focused tracing efforts on finding the significant animals; those that were possibly exposed to the same feed source as the index cow. At this time, all of the animals that were imported from the same herd of origin in Canada as the index cow are being treated as significant animals. In some instances, due to identification and records available, APHIS may identify groups of cattle that include potential significant animals and other cattle that cannot be distinguished from them.
 
APHIS is using all tools available to identify specific significant animals, including all available identification methods and even bio-forensic testing if necessary. Since BSE is not a contagious disease spread through animal contact, these efforts can be focused on finding the individual significant animals. There is no scientific reason to restrict movements of entire herds or anything more than a group of potential significant animals.
 
With this in mind, the use of hold orders will be limited to groups of significant animals. Once an animal in a herd is confirmed not to be a significant animal, it will be removed from the hold order. This will decrease the impact on individual producers and help streamline the investigation to keep the focus on the individual significant animals as necessary.
 
The international review team, comprised of Dr. Ulrich Kihm, President and CEO, Safe Foods Solutions, Bern, Switzerland; Dr. Dagmar Heim, TSE Coordinator, Federal Veterinary Office of Switzerland; Dr. William Hueston, Director, Center for Animal Health and Food Safety at the University of Minnesota; Dr. Stuart Mac Diarmid, Principal Advisor, Zoonoses and Animal Health, New Zealand Food Safety Authority, New Zealand; and Danny Matthews, TSE program coordinator for the United Kingdom, began their work this week to assess the scope and thoroughness of the epidemiological investigation.
 
Trade Issues Senior U.S. government officials are continuing talks with trading partners and this week are meeting with officials in Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and South Korea to discuss BSE related issues. Specific trade information can be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_trade_ban_status.html
 
Additional information on BSE can be obtained by visiting the USDA website at http://www.usda.gov/BSE Past BSE updates can be viewed at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/. -- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
 
Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health

 

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