Thursday, October 18, 2018

Cow in Scotland had BSE

Government officials in Scotland said routine testing has turned up the first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow’s disease) in almost a decade in that country.

Thousands of cattle were culled in the 1990s to stop the spread of the brain-damaging and fatal disease.

The infrected cow was detected on a farm in Aberdeenshire, officials said.

Restrictions have been put in place at the unnamed farm as an investigation is carried out into the source of the disease.

Scotland’s Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas said: “While it is too early to tell where the disease came from in this case, its detection is proof that our surveillance system is doing its job.

The animal did not enter the food chain, officials said.