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Herdmates Of Canadian
Mad Cow Exported To US

From Patricia Doyle, PhD
dr_p_doyle@hotmail.com
4-30-6
 
Hello, Jeff - Of course, we get the same old "feel good" and 'don't worry' statements such as meat from infected cows did not enter human food chain.
 
How can such a determination can be made when, in this case, herdmates of the infected cow have not been found...and have not been determined to be either free of BSE or infected with BSE? The answer is obvious.
 
Patty
 
By Marcy Nicholson
 
(Reuters) -- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said on Friday that 15 herdmates of Canada's latest mad cow case were exported to the United States.
 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has located one of the 15 animals in Washington State and continues to trace the others, agency spokesman Ed Loyd said.
 
"We have just under 150 animals that we are tracing ... and 23 were located in Canada and quarantined," said Dr. George Luterbach, senior veterinarian with the CFIA.
 
The 23 cattle quarantined in Canada, as well as the one located in Washington, will soon be euthanized and tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as BSE or mad cow disease.
 
The animals may have been exposed to the same feed as the 6-year-old dairy cow from a farm in the western province of British Columbia that tested positive for the brain-wasting disease.
 
BSE is believed to be spread by feed containing rendered protein from infected cattle or other ruminants.
 
"I would stress that even during the highest levels of infectivity of BSE in the European situation, there was rarely more than one animal in the herd that would become infected and express the disease," the USDA's Loyd said.
 
"I would think the likelihood of any additional exposure would be extremely remote in the United States."
 
The Canadian agency's investigation focuses primarily on the cow's birth farm, which is close to the one it was found on, Luterbach said.
 
The CFIA continues to trace the remaining cohorts, cattle born on the same farm 12 months before or after the affected animal. Luterbach said the agency does not expect to find them all, as many would have been killed for a variety of reasons.
 
"It's not likely any of these would have entered into the human food chain as there are a number of measures that are taken," Luterbach said.
 
The pure-bred Holstein cow was confirmed to have the disease on 16 Apr 2006, making it Canada's 5th native-born mad cow case. The CFIA said then that it did not enter the food supply.
 
The animal was born after the 1997 ban that prohibited adding protein from cows and other ruminants, such as goats and sheep, to cattle feed.
 
This is not the first time that mad cow cohorts have been exported to the U.S. This also occurred in 2003 and 2005, the CFIA said in a release.
 
The agency said it is "unlikely" to find additional BSE cases in the feed cohort.
 
The CFIA has located the cow's 2004 calf, which had been slaughtered, but continues to search for its 2005 calf, as it is believed possible for BSE to be passed to offspring. The cow was pregnant at the time of her death, Luterbach said.
 
The Canadian cattle industry suffered in 2003, when the U.S. banned imports of live cattle after the first native-born case was confirmed. The importation of cattle under 30 months old resumed in 2005.
 
_____
 
Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
Univ of West Indies
 
Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board at:
http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
Also my new website:
http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health

 

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