Dutch Find 6th Madcow Case for '04, Destroy 26
AMSTERDAM - Dutch authorities discovered the brain-wasting madcow disease BSE in a six-year old animal and destroyed 26 head of cattle, 25 of them from the same farm, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.
16 December 2004
2 minute read
The BSE case is the sixth this year and the 77th since the outbreak in 1997 of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a brain-wasting disease that can spread to humans.
The cow from Bodegraven, in the center west of the country, was brought to slaughterhouse on December 2. The following day the carcass tested positive and further tests confirmed the finding.
Authorities are probing the animal feed, especially what the cow ate in her younger years, to determine the origin of the BSE contamination. The disease is thought to be triggered by contaminants in feed.
Source: Reuters - 16th December 2004
