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Cow Tests Negative for Disease, Agriculture Department Says

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 4--A cow suspected of having mad cow disease has tested negative for the brain-wasting ailment, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday.

Tests by the department's laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and an internationally recognized lab in Weybridge, England, found no evidence of the disease.

"Needless to say, we are very pleased with these results," said John Clifford, the department's chief veterinarian.

The animal's meat never entered the food chain, and Dr. Clifford emphasized that the department's food-safety protocols offer "important protections for human and animal health."

The cow died in April, but the veterinarian forgot to send in the sample until last week. The veterinarian set it aside, after preserving it, and "simply forgot to send it," Dr. Clifford said in a statement last week.

The agency has declined to name the veterinarian or disclose the animal's location.

Initial tests to determine whether the animal had the disease -- formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE -- proved inconclusive, prompting the additional tests.

The animal, at least 12 years old, had complications while giving birth and died on the farm where it had lived. The carcass was destroyed after the brain tissue sample was removed.

In June -- before the delay in this case was discovered -- the agency changed its confirmatory testing procedure and asked veterinarians in most cases to send samples on ice to the agency within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the agency is continuing its epidemiological investigation related to a Texas cow that tested positive for BSE in June.

That case marked the nation's second confirmed finding of BSE, and the first in a home-grown animal. The nation's first finding involved a Canadian-born cow in Washington State that tested positive in December 2003.

The Texas probe should be completed "soon," said agency spokesman Jim Rogers, but he could not give a date. The investigation surrounding the Canadian cow was wrapped up in about six weeks.

Cattle futures have remained stable since the government announced the latest suspected case July 27. They rose 0.15 cent Wednesday to 83.375 cents a pound.

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Source: The Dallas Morning News

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