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Ranchers.net

Mad-Cow Crops Up in Canadian Dairy Herd, 15th Case (Update1)

By Whitney McFerron

Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Canada confirmed the 15th case of mad-cow disease discovered in the country since May 2003, this time in a dairy cow from British Columbia.

No part of the seven-year-old cow got into systems that produce food for consumption by either people or animals, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said today in a statement. The agency has identified where the animal was born and is looking for the source of its disease, the statement said.

``The age and location of the infected animal are consistent with previous cases detected in Canada,'' the agency said. Regulators are also tracking down other animals in the cow's herd when it was born, the agency said. Testing for the disease began in 1992 in Canada, and was broadened in 2003, according to the Canadian regulator's Web site.

In 1997, Canada and the U.S. banned the use of cattle feed containing ground-up cow tissue, which scientists say is the way most animals contract the brain-wasting infection. As in other recent cases in Canada, the sick cow was born after the ban.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as BSE or mad-cow disease, has been linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide. Eating meat from BSE-infected animals has been linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an incurable human illness that destroys brain tissue.

Last year, the U.S. eased most restrictions on Canadian beef and cattle after determining the animals pose ``minimal risk'' for mad-cow disease. The new case ``should not affect exports of Canadian cattle or beef,'' Canada's food agency said.

The U.S. has had three confirmed cases of mad-cow disease since December 2003, including one in an animal born in Canada.

Cattle futures for February delivery fell 1.65 cents, or 1.8 percent, to 89.025 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange today. Futures have dropped 4 percent this month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at [email protected]

Last Updated: November 17, 2008 15:42 EST
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