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Austria reports first probable case of mad-cow infected livestock |
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January 15, 2001
VIENNA-- (AP) - Austria reported its first probable case of mad-cow infected cattle on Sunday after tests on an animal slaughtered in Germany, a day after Italy said it found the first suspected case in a native cow. Gov. Wendelin Weingartner of Tyrol province told The Austria Press Agency that the cow was born in the province and was slaughtered in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, came up positive, Weingartner was quoted as saying. New testing has been ordered in an attempt to confirm the initial results. If the infection is confirmed, the whole herd from where the animal originated from will be slaughtered, he said. Austrian officials were not immediately available for comment Sunday. Mad cow disease, which erupted in Britain in the 1980s, is believed linked to the fatal human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed at least 80 people in Britain and two in France. Austria has prohibited the feeding of cattle with meat and bone meal since 1990. Mad cow, which leaves holes in the brains of infected animals, is believed to be transmitted when cattle eat fodder with ground parts of infected animals. With Tyrol bordering Germany, it is possible that such cattle feed might have been illegally given Austrian cattle, the press agency cited officials as saying. On Saturday, the Italian Health Ministry said a milk cow found on a breeding farm near Brescia in the northern region of Lombardy could be infected. Officials said the animal was slain on Thursday and that two tests indicated the cow could have the disease. The results of a third test, which the ministry said should give the definitive word, were expected for late Tuesday. A few years ago in Sicily, two cows imported from Britain were found to have the brain-wasting disease, but no case in a native Italian cow had been reported before Saturday's announcement. The disease has caused a major scare across Europe in recent weeks. European Union countries stepped up testing of slaughtered cattle for signs of mad cow disease two weeks ago after the discovery of BSE cases in countries like Germany and Spain that had considered themselves free of the disease. All cattle over 30 months are required to be proven BSE-free before the beef can be sold. Meat from any that aren't tested may not enter the food chain. The measures have sparked protests by farmers in Europe. In Germany, the new minister for agriculture and consumer protection said on Sunday that the country will step up research on the disease. "We currently have far too little knowledge about the infection's transmission," said Renate Kuenast, appointed last week after two of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's ministers resigned over the country's seven-week mad cow crisis. "In addition, reliable tests are a long way off," she said on Central German Radio. The German army also is destroying stocks of troop rations containing meat and sausage that were produced before Oct. 1, the Defense Ministry said Sunday. Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping's order also gives everyone in the armed forces the right to be served beef-free meals, a ministry spokesman said. Germany has recorded 13 BSE cases since first confirming the disease in November. In France, about 150 animals were discovered with the disease last year, compared to 31 the year before, in part because of the broadened screening of cows.
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