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Tests Confirm Second Mad Cow Case in U.S.


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WASHINGTON - Exhaustive tests have confirmed mad cow disease in an animal apparently born in the United States, officials said Friday. It is the second case of the disease confirmed in this country, but Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns stressed there was no threat to public health.

The animal, a "downer" that could not walk, was not killed at a slaughterhouse but at a rendering plant for animals unfit for human consumption, officials said. Johanns would not say where the case turned up, but he said there was no evidence the cow was imported.

"I am encouraged that our interlocking safeguards are working exactly as intended," Johanns said at a news conference. "This animal was blocked from entering the food supply because of the firewalls we have in place. Americans have every reason to continue to be confident in the safety of our beef."

The Agriculture Department said the news also should not affect efforts to lift bans on U.S. beef in Japan and Korea imposed after the first U.S. case in December 2003. Officials in Japan, formerly the largest customer of U.S. beef, have said a positive test result would not deter them from resuming beef imports. Japan agreed to reopen its market last fall but has not actually lifted its ban.

An internationally recognized laboratory in Weybridge, England, confirmed the case Friday after U.S. tests produced conflicting results, Johanns said. Initial screening had indicated the presence of the disease, but the animal was tested and cleared of having the brain-wasting illness.

New tests were ordered two weeks ago. Those results, from a test known as the Western blot, came back positive, leading officials to seek confirmation from the Weybridge lab. The department also performed more tests at its lab in Ames, Iowa.

Mad cow disease — medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE — kills brain cells and leaves spongy holes behind. A form of the disease in people is variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. It has been linked to the consumption of contaminated meat. The disease has killed about 150 people worldwide, mostly in Britain.

The first case of mad cow disease in the United States was confirmed in December 2003. It turned up in Washington state in a dairy cow imported from Canada.

The new case was in an animal at least 8 years old, the department said. Like the first case, it was born before the United States and Canada banned cattle parts in cattle feed, which is how the disease is believed to spread.

Officials said the brain tissue samples appeared different from the classical form of mad cow disease seen in Britain, where there was an outbreak in the 1990s, but they are classifying it as mad cow disease, anyway.

Johanns said his department will start conducting the more sensitive Western blot test as a matter of routine. The department has been criticized by consumer groups and cattlemen for not resolving conflicting test results on this animal last November.

The department did initial screening using a "rapid test," which was positive. A more detailed immunohistochemistry, or IHC test, was negative. But the department did not conduct a third round, using the Western blot, until the department's inspector general ordered it to do so two weeks ago, said USDA officials, including the inspector general.

Now the department will use both IHC and Western blot when rapid tests indicate the presence of the disease, Johanns said.

"By adding the second confirmatory test, we boost that confidence and bring our testing in line with the evolving worldwide trend," he said.

U.S. officials escalated testing for the disease after the first U.S. case. More than 388,000 dead cattle have been screened in the past 13 months, compared with about 2,000 screenings annually before the first case.

Earlier in the day, Johanns expressed irritation that the new round of testing had been ordered without his knowledge or approval. Inspector General Phyllis Fong, an internal auditor and investigator, has not explained why she ordered the new tests.

"I was asked by the Senate and the president to operate the department," Johanns told reporters Friday morning. "I believe, in this area, very clearly, the secretary should be consulted, whoever the secretary is, before testing is undertaken. From my standpoint, I believe I was put there to operate the department and was very disappointed."

Source

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Surely this will hurt the beef market greatly, but on the bright side of it all beef prices will go down a little bit. I wonder if Mad Cow is kind of like CWD like we had in some of our deer here in Wisconsin? Both waste the brain away and cause horrible side effects in the slow, painful death.

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  • warden

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I think it is the same ,im glad i have stoped eating burgers for the last two weeks,as the time we had it over in britain i didnt give a dam and kept on eating beef daily,then you started to read stories in the press about humans contracting some weird disease which was linked to the crazy cows wacko.gif

And yes it will drive the price of beef down as you will have to import it from poorer countries mooooooooooowwwwww

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By the time it was in the news here in the UK it was too late for those that had eaten the meat anyway wasn't the damage already done? am I correct?

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By the time it was in the news here in the UK it was too late for those that had eaten the meat anyway wasn't the damage already done? am I correct?

697614[/snapback]

I think you are right XSAS,but wasnt there stil cases still coming out after we were told we had the all clear

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I think so but not sure if it was the loose cannon farmers that were holding back on cattle? as for me I am more likely to get mad chicken disease.

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I think so but not sure if it was the loose cannon farmers that were holding back on cattle? as for me I am more likely to get mad chicken disease.

697621[/snapback]

Of thread) but i hope you cant get 80/ disease

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I will be at your bed side helping you through it mate.. I do miss that 80/.

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I will be at your bed side helping you through it mate.. I do miss that 80/.

697631[/snapback]

In my will,i shall donate all my empty 80? bottles to XSAS tongue.gif better get back on topic

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Agreed bacl on topic not only do we have to contend with Mad cows diseaes now they are warning us about the posibilities of cancer eating red meat?

Edited by XSAS
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Mad cow and other livestock diseases are quite scary. The last time I went to visit England, I stayed in Dover for about a week (lovely town). This was during the "foot and mouth" scare (hoof and mouth for us Americans)I took a tour of Dover Castle and from the high turrets I could see miles of countryside dotted with sheep and cattle. All the animals had big, red X's spray-painted on there backs as they had to be culled to prevent spreading the disease. Although better than the alternative, I was so sad to see that thousands of beautiful sheep would have to die.

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Is there any talk that this could be harmful to humans? That's what everyone was getting excited about when we had this mad cow disease here back in the day, but I don't know if there have ever been any confirmed cases that anyone has ever caught it. Similarly with foot & mouth; although there was a very faint chance in theory that it might be possible to pass it on to humans, it never did. The sad thing about f&m is that it's not actually fatal, and there is a vaccine against it, but if an animal has had the vaccine, it can't be sold, so it's useless. That's why they were killed; not because they were dying anyway, but because they were economically useless. sad.gif

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Well, President Lincoln's mother died of mad cow but that was a long time ago.

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Well you learn something every day.

is the rumor that she was a wrestler also true?

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Mad Cow rarely can kill humans the chances of dying from it is small you can get hit by lightening 3 times before you die of Mad Cow. In fact it probably is in your system right now from past meat I forgot how long it can stay in your body I think it was four yrs. Anyway the press like to sensationalize such diseases just like that chicken virus that was supposed to kill millions of humans and sars was the end of the world.

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Well you learn something every day.

is the rumor that she was a wrestler also true?

697757[/snapback]

Yeah, Sumo style. hmm.gif

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From what I have read the pirons(hoped I spelled that right) that make up this disease, it is not a virus, can take up to 10 years to show up after consumption, and can be mistake as senility. With this said I still eat beef.

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BSE, mad cow disease. The only way a human could contract that is if they were to eat the brian or parts of the spinal cord. It is so rare that yes you could get hit by lightning 3 times before you get it. Only processed beef can carry it ie hotdogs,balogny ect. you could eat a steak a roast what ever and never worry about it.

Had to add that when president Bush came to alberta for a visit he had Alberta beef along with Paul Martin (Canada's prime minister) when the hight of bse was centralized in Alberta.

Edited by The Silver Thong
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BSE, mad cow disease.  The only way a human could contract that is if they were to eat the brian or parts of the spinal cord.  It is so rare that yes you could get hit by lightning 3 times before you get it.    Only processed beef can carry it ie  hotdogs,balogny ect. you could eat a steak a roast what ever and never worry about it.

Had to add  that when president Bush came to alberta for a visit he had Alberta beef along with Paul Martin (Canada's prime minister) when the hight of bse was centralized in Alberta.

698020[/snapback]

You would think with that only the poor would catch it as they cant afford steak only the crap that is left mooooooooooooowwwwww

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I would have to say stay away from head cheese,and that balogny with the noodles in it yuk why would the even make that huh.gif

Edited by The Silver Thong
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Ya your right i was just going to treat myself to a couple of tube steaks ahhhh

Hotdogs

Edited by The Silver Thong
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It's a myth that Britain has has more CJD cases than other countries. The difference between Britain and other countries is that Britain doesn't cover it up. The Government makes known to the public every CJD case.

Some people have said that there have been more victims of CJD in the US and France than in Britain but their Governments keep it a secret.

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It's a myth that Britain has has more CJD cases than other countries.  The difference between Britain and other countries is that Britain doesn't cover it up.  The Government makes known to the public every CJD case.

Some people have said that there have been more victims of CJD in the US and France than in Britain but their Governments keep it a secret.

699317[/snapback]

Woooooooooo ,our gov does not keep secrets blink.gif it tells us the truth at all times blink.gif

We never cover nothing up in this country,we are whiter than white innocent.gif

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