- Experts are investigating a new cattle disease amid fears
that it could spread to people.
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- The mystery condition which paralysed and killed a young
cow is thought to be a new type of polio.
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- Another 20 cattle may have suffered the same fate over
the past ten years and farmers are being warned that signs of paralysis
in a cow may be more than botulism.
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- The investigation was ordered by the Government after
post-mortem tests on the heifer failed to find any evidence of bovine diseases.
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- They showed brain abnormalities that killed the animal
after six days of paralysis.
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- A senior government vet said he was unable to say whether
the condition could also harm humans.
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- The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
said the case was being investigated as a possible new condition in British
cattle.
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- The location of the farm where the heifer died has not
been released but no meat from the animal has been allowed into the food
chain. Ten cattle in contact with the stricken heifer remain in good health.
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- The Defra spokesman said it was too soon to speculate
about the knock-on effect of the discovery.
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- "The long-term risk to public health is not known,"
he said. "It is impossible to make an assessment from a single case
where the agent responsible is not known."
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- The latest information on the case will be set out in
the Veterinary Record, the magazine of the veterinary industry.
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- Details of the cow's condition were brought to the attention
of the UK Zoonoses Group at a meeting in April.
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- The group discusses those diseases and infections which
can be transmitted between animal and man.
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- Defra said numerous tests were carried out on the heifer
but none proved conclusive.
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- It was initially thought that the cow had botulism because
it was displaying signs of paralysis in its legs but tests were negative.
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- Testing on the animal at the VLA in Penrith showed microscopy
lesions which suggested a viral infection in the brain.
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- The VLA suspected encephalitis, or inflammation of the
brain, and also tested for louping-ill, a virus which causes inflammation
of the brain and spinal cord and is transmitted by ticks.
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- The animal was then tested for West Nile disease, a virus
spread via mosquito which has not yet come to the UK, and bovine herpes
1. All three results were negative.
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- Defra said there was no evidence of a transmissible Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE, and the lesions on its legs were not
consistent with rabies.
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- Defra deputy chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg said
a pathological change was found in the brain of the dead heifer and the
other 20 cases revealed similar conditions.
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- "The significance of this pathology change is that
it could have been caused by a virus but no virus was isolated from these
cases to make specific diagnosis," he said.
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- Many of the undiagnosed cases could have been recognised
diseases but the technology had not existed 10 years ago to reach a definitive
conclusion.
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- Mr Landeg said, "Over the course of the last 10
years we have developed tests which allow us to make certain diagnoses
of viruses which were not available a few years ago.
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- "Some of these animals could have died of a viral
disease such as louping-ill but no identification was made."
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- All 21 cases were confined to England and were not found
in clusters.
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- Mr Landeg said the decision to reveal what could be a
new condition in cattle was part of Defra's policy of openness, but he
appealed for a sense of proportion.
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- "These are sporadic cases that do not appear to
have caused further spread within the herd and they do not appear to be
linked to other herds."
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- Peter Rudman, veterinary and public health adviser with
the National Farmers' Union, said it was impossible to work out the scale
of the threat..
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- "You will sometimes get deaths of uncertain causes
and if that happens 21 times in 10 years and you look at the number of
cattle killed in that time, it isn't that much," he said.
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- "But every time it does happen you can't help thinking
about BSE which was something where we didn't know what it was at first
and then look what happened."
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- National Beef Association chief executive Robert Forster
said the good news was the lack of any reference to any BSE-like conditions.
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- "There may have been 21 unexplained deaths over
the past 10 years but you have to put that against the 2.2 million cattle
a year killed for the food chain." he said.
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