Canada confirms new
case of mad cow

Associated Press
January 11, 2005

OTTAWA, Canada (AP) -- The Canadian government has confirmed a new case of so-called mad cow disease.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Tuesday the brain wasting disease showed up in an Alberta cow under seven years old. Officials say no part of the animal has entered the human or animal feed system.

This is the second case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) found in Canada this year. Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials were to hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss the new case.

Canadian officials confirmed the country's first case this year on January 2, just days after the United States said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef.

That dairy cow from Alberta, born in 1996, tested positive for BSE, which attacks the animals' nervous system. Food contaminated with BSE can afflict people with the usually fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Since the disease was first diagnosed in Britain in 1986, there have been more than 180,000 cases.

The U.S.-Canadian border was closed to Canadian cattle 19 months ago when a cow in northern Alberta was diagnosed with the disease. Concerns persisted after a Canadian-born cow in Washington state was found in December 2003 to have BSE.

But U.S. Department of Agriculture officials suggested after the discovery of this year's first case than they would not change their stance about re-opening the borders.