NEWS: Officials to Survey Texas Herd for Mad Cow - NYT 7/1/05

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New York Times

 

July 1, 2005

 

Officials to Survey Texas Herd for Mad Cow

 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

Filed at 8:56 a.m. ET

 

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Animals in the Texas herd that produced the first

homegrown case of mad cow disease will be surveyed in coming weeks to

identify cattle born around the same time and the infected bovine's

recent offspring.

 

The checks come as agriculture officials work to ensure that other

cattle in the herd are not carrying the brain-wasting disease.

 

The infected 12-year-old beef cow was born, raised and used for breeding

at the same ranch and had never left the property, authorities said

Thursday. They would not identify the ranch or the size of the herd.

 

Agriculture officials announced Wednesday the latest confirmed case of

mad cow disease in the United States had been traced to the animal,

which was a ''downer'' that could not walk. The cow arrived dead at a

pet-food plant in Waco, Texas, in November and never entered the

nation's human food supply.

 

It was the first time the disease has been confirmed in a U.S.-born cow.

The other U.S. case was in a dairy cow imported from Canada.

 

The state Animal Health Commission put a hold on the ranch's cattle

earlier this month when tests indicated a mad cow case among the herd.

 

Officials have said the infection most likely started with contaminated

feed eaten before August 1997, when the United States and Canada began

banning cow parts in cattle feed. The cow was born about four years

before the feed ban was implemented.

 

Officials also are trying to identify herd mates born within one year of

the infected cow's birth, as well as any offspring born within the past

two years and other related cattle.

 

USDA Chief Veterinarian John Clifford said it is ''highly unusual'' to

find the disease in more than one animal in a herd or in an affected

animal's offspring.

 

The animal arrived dead at Champion Pet Food. An initial screening

indicated the presence of mad cow, but more sophisticated follow-up

tests were negative. However, samples were sent to a British lab that

found the animal had the disease. The carcass was later incinerated.

 

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration will trace the feed history

of animals born on the ranch around the same time as the infected cow,

including any animals no longer on the farm.

 

Investigators will also examine compliance records for plants that may

have processed meat and bone meal from relatives or herd mates of the

sick animal to see whether the companies complied with the feed ban

regulations.

 

The Agriculture Department began monitoring cattle more aggressively

after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was discovered in December

2003 in Washington state. More than 400,000 cattle have been tested

since June 2004.

 

Texas is the leading cattle state in the nation with 13.8 million head

or 15 percent of the U.S. cattle inventory.

 

Mad cow disease, medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or

BSE, is a brain-wasting illness that infects cattle. It is believed to

be spread when a cow eats meal that contains spinal or brain tissue of

an animal infected with BSE. Humans can get a related illness, variant

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, if they eat infected tissue.

 

 

On the Net:

 

Federal disease information: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/cjd/cjd.htm