Brazil Investigates Atypical Case of BSE

BRAZIL - The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) has launched an investigation into a possible case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the state of Mato Grosso.
calendar icon 28 April 2014
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Field investigations show that the single atypical case of BSE is in an animal raised extensively on grazing and mineral salt and was killed at about 12 years of age.

The ministry said that these are the main features of an atypical BSE case, since it occurs sporadically and spontaneously and is not related to feeding contaminated food.

Meat products from the animal did not enter the human food or animal feed chain and hazardous materials was incinerated.

As a precaution, all contemporary animals in the herd were individually identified and held.

The cow that was discovered to have the disease was sent to slaughter on 19 March because of reproductive problems caused.

During the ante mortem inspection, the inspector responsible for overseeing the processing plant saw that there was a fallen animal, and because of this it was not considered fit for routine slaughter and was sent for emergency slaughter and underwent sampling for BSE testing.

The final result of the tests performed on national agricultural laboratory detected the prion marking.

Under Brazilian protocols, epidemiological research was immediately carried out and arrangements made to send samples to the international reference laboratory of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in Weybridge, England, for confirmation.

Official notification and new information on the case will be released when the final result of the evaluation of the OIE lab is available next week.

TheCattleSite News Desk

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