USDA Says Advanced Tests Show Animal Had Mad Cow

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday a more advanced test showed an animal that tested "inconclusive" for mad cow disease during the weekend was positive for the illness.

The tests showed the animal was from a heard in an Alabama farm and was nonambulatory.

"We received a positive result from a Western Blot Confirmatory test conducted at our USDA laboratories in Ames, Iowa, on samples from an animal that had tested inconclusive on a rapid screening test performed on Friday, March 10," said John Clifford, chief veterinary officer of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

USDA said on Saturday a brain sample from a suspect animal yielded an "inconclusive" result in a less-accurate, rapid screening test.