Guest guest Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030928wo31.htm British cows believed to be infection route for BSE Yomiuri Shimbun 28 Sep 2003 Meat-and-bone meal (MBM) made from cows imported from Britain in 1982 and 1987, when mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), swept through that country, and MBM imported from Italy before 1990 were likely to have been the route of infection for the country, sources close to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Saturday. According to the sources, the ministry's technical investigative commission on BSE, which is trying to discover the infection route, believes domestic cattle fed with the infected MBM became infected and caused a second outbreak after they were themselves processed into MBM. However, commission experts were still unable to identify a specific infection route for the disease, the sources said. The commission will compile a final report at a meeting Tuesday and submit it to the ministry, the sources said. Seven infected cattle have so far been confirmed in the country, with the first case discovered in Chiba Prefecture in September 2001. The ministry began studying the infection route after the first case was reported. An interim report was compiled in November the same year and a second interim report was issued in March last year. Last November, an epidemiological research team of experts was established, which used previously gathered data to try to determine which of several possible infection sources and routes could have been responsible. Some of 14 cattle born in the 1980s, when BSE was ravaging Britain, and imported in 1982 and 1987, were infected with the disease. Since the cattle were processed into MBM in Japan, domestic cattle also became infected. As a result, the team believed it was likely MBM made from infected domestic cattle spread BSE domestically, the sources said. Italian MBM has been suspected of being an infection source because it was not properly heat-processed. The team discovered that Italian MBM imported before 1990 contained an abnormal prion, a protein believed to cause BSE, resulting in the infection of domestic cattle, after examining the different periods of Italian MBM importation, the sources said. However, the experts pointed out that human beings are unlikely to contract BSE because they are protected by a " species barrier, " meaning it is difficult for different species to infect one another. In addition, since Japanese usually do not eat cow parts that carry BSE, such as brains and spines, they are unlikely to contract BSE. Since each cow is thoroughly examined, infected cattle are not likely be sold or processed in the future, the sources said. The New with improved product search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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