Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Italy's Mad Cow Cases Rise to 104
Italy's mad cow rose to 104 in the last two and a half years, after confirming a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the Reggio Emila province, Italian health officials said Monday.
Italy's mad cow rose to 104 in the last two and a half years, after confirming a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the Reggio Emila province, Italian health officials said Monday.
Confirming a positive field test, Italy's main testing lab in Turin said it was the 18th BSE case this year.
Italy has so far carried out more than one million tests for the brain-wasting disease since it launched a BSE testing programin January 2001 in compliance with European Union regulations.
All animals over 24 months old now undergo such testing prior to slaughter.
An Italian government task force was formed and BSE measures stepped up in February 2002 after the discovery of the first suspected case of the human form of the deadly disease, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (nvCJD), in a young Sicilian woman. The case of nvCJD was confirmed in November.