A four-year-old dairy cow had BSE (mad cow disease) in Alberta, Canada, say officials, making it the seventh case of the disease in the country since a nationwide surveillance program had been put in place in 2003. It is the fifth confirmed case in Alberta. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the animal did not enter the human or animal food systems – the entire carcass has been incinerated.
The farm where the sick animal lived has been quarantined. Officials are checking all feed records.
The CFIA is checking the farm where the cow was born for any cases of BSE there and with cows that were born there.
In 1997 Canada implemented a ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban. As this cow was born five years after that date, scientists are intrigued at how the animal may have become infected.
Canadian authorities tried to assure its public by insisting that food supply remains protected through the removal of SRM (specified risk material) from all cattle slaughtered for human consumption.
All the other six cases in Canada were animals that were born either before or around the time of the 1997 feed ban.
It is suspected that eating contaminated meat may raise a human’s risk of developing CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease), the human form of mad cow disease. Some experts say the incubation period for CJD may be more than 50 years.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today