(JP) British cows believed to be infection route for BSE

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

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