Zach Crawford
(ANSA) – RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 04 – Two atypical cases of mad cow disease have been detected in Brazil, leading to the suspension of beef exports to China. This was announced yesterday evening by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture.
This is a measure taken as part of an existing bilateral protocol between the two countries, although the directorate stressed that “there is no danger to human or animal health.” A ministerial statement explained that the two cases are “atypical” because the disease appeared “spontaneously and intermittently and is not related to eating contaminated food.”
Two cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Bse) were identified during health inspections in the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso on aged cows, according to the Brazilian Ministry. “Brazil has never recorded a classic case of mad cow disease,” said the ministry, which officially notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
BSE first appeared in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and spread to many countries in Europe and around the world, causing concern among consumers and causing a major crisis in the beef sector. The disease was spread widely by farm owners who fed their livestock with meat and bone meal of dead and infected animals. People died after being infected with the human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is believed to be transmitted by eating infected meat. (Dealing).
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Laurence Malcom
