Japan confirms 8th case of mad cow
Japan News Update
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031006p2a00m0fp033000c.html
A 23-month-old Holstein bull has been found infected with mad cow
disease, the youngest and eighth case of the illness confirmed in
Japan, officials said Monday.
It is for the first time that a cow younger than two years old has
proved to be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
while seven other confirmed cases involved cow older than five.
Officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said that the cow
in question would be burned.
The bull was raised at a farm in Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture after
being born in October 2001. Another farm in Fukushima Prefecture took
over the cow in May last year.
It was delivered to a meat disposal center in Ibaraki Prefecture on
Sept. 29, and a local meat examination institute checked the carcass
shortly after.
Although the local institute's examination showed the cow was positive
for BSE, another examination at the National Institute of Infectious
Diseases didn't confirm the illness.
Experts appointed by the ministry discussed the issue and concluded it
was infected with BSE on Monday.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' panel has said
meat and bone meal feed might have been the source of BSE infection
for other seven cows, but has not yet specified the infection origin.
(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Oct. 6, 2003)