(JP) Health ministry confirms fourth case of mad cow

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020513a7.htm

 

Health ministry confirms fourth case of mad cow

 

A test conducted Saturday on a slaughtered cow has

revealed that it was infected with mad cow disease,

the health ministry said.

The case is the fourth to be confirmed since last

September, when the first case of the disease was

reported in Japan.

 

The outcome of Saturday's more precise test, carried

out at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and

Veterinary Medicine in Hokkaido, followed a

preliminary test Friday, in which the 6-year-old

Holstein initially tested positive for the

brain-wasting illness.

 

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will hold an

expert meeting Monday to make a final decision on the

infection.

 

After the ministry reaches a conclusion on the matter,

the animal's meat and internal organs will be

incinerated, according to the sources.

 

The discovery of Japan's fourth case of mad cow

disease supports the theory that the disease is

prevalent across the country.

 

Since October, Japan has tested every cow slaughtered

for beef for the disease, formally known as bovine

spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

 

If a preliminary test finds a sample that is

apparently positive at the mass screening level, the

more elaborate Western Blot examination is conducted.

 

The first case in Japan was found last September,

while the second and third were identified in

November.

 

The latest cow suspected of being infected seems to

share many features with the other three cows

confirmed to be carrying BSE, including having been

born in 1996.

 

In addition, the first, second and fourth cows were

all born in Hokkaido, while the third was born in

Gunma Prefecture.

 

The Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will

launch an investigation into what these cows were fed

to try to determine a link.

 

Cows are believed to contract the disease by eating

meat-and-bone meal contaminated with BSE. But Japanese

authorities have yet to detect the sources of the

domestic infections.

 

According to the health ministry, the fourth cow was

born in the town of Ombetsu in eastern Hokkaido in

March 23, 1996, and raised by a dairy farmer in the

same town. It was taken to the city of Kushiro to be

slaughtered.

 

BSE has been linked to the deaths of more than 100

people in Europe. The disease was first found in

Britain in the mid-1980s. So far, about 180,000 cows

have been found to have the disease in Britain.

 

The Japan Times: May 13, 2002

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