Netherlands reports mad cow case

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

THE HAGUE (AFP) — The Dutch ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday that it has discovered mad cow disease in a seven-year-old cow.

It is the 83rd case of mad cow disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the Netherlands since 1997 but the first since March 2006.

Netherlands authorities do routine checks on all slaughtered bovines for BSE.

One cow from the same farm and another six from other farms believed to be at risk for mad cow disease, because they received the same feed or were descendants of the sick cow, were also culled.

The Netherlands has so far recorded two cases of the human form of the disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, since it first appeared in 1996.

© 2007 AFP