LONDON — British officials on Friday confirmed a case of mad cow disease in an animal born after controls on feed were introduced to eradicate the illness.
The cow was born May 27, 1997, almost 10 months after mammal meat and bone products were banned from animal feed, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. It was the scond such confirmed case.
Scientists believe that ground up sheep tissue in animal feed was the agent for spreading bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
The development of the disease in an animal born after the August feed restrictions suggests that the ailment may have been transmitted from its mother. It may also have come from feed introduced before August.
The disease eats holes in the brains of victims, and is incurable. Diseased beef is suspected as the cause of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a wasting brain ailment that has killed more than 100 people in Britain.
Experts have predicted there could be a small number of BSE cases in cows born after the August measures were introduced.
Officials said the infected cow was 48 months old when it was slaughtered, and there was no danger it could have entered the food chain. Meat from cows more than 30 months old may not be sold for human consumption.
The number of BSE cases in Britain continues to decline, with 1,311 confirmed during 2000, 42 percent fewer than in 1999.
