[1]
Date: 17 Jan 2001
From: IZS Torino - CEA Centro Referenza Encefalopatie <cea@to.izs.it>
Italy reports today the first [native] case of BSE (Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy) in a 6-year-old animal from Lombardy, in the north of the
country. [Suspected] bovines were slaughtered and tested for BSE prions in
the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale (IZS) of Brescia in the course of
the national monitoring of BSE, which started on 1 Jan 2001.
The diagnosis was confirmed by histology, immunohistochemistry and Western
blot by the National Reference [Centre] for Animal Encephalopathies (CEA)
of IZS of Torino. Previously 2 cases had been reported in Italy in 1994 in
imported cows from the UK.
--
Maria Caramelli DVM
CEA - Reference Centre for Animal Encephalopathies
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte
Liguria e Valle d'Aosta Via Bologna 148 - 10154
TORINO - ITALY
<cea@to.izs.it>
******
[2]
Date: 16 Jan 2001
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. <flounder@WT.NET>
Source: Associated Press, 17 Jan 2001 [edited]
<http://farmbid.com/newsandweather/nw_news_view.asp?id=174274>
Suspected Austrian-born Cow Declared Free of BSE
-------------------------------------------
A new test declared disease-free a cow suspected of being the first born in
Austria to come down with deadly mad cow disease, results from a German
laboratory revealed Tuesday. The quarantine imposed last week on the farm
that sold the animal is expected to be lifted soon.
The cow born in 1993 at Schattwald in Austria's Tyrol province was sold by
a neighboring farmer to Germany, where an initial test last week showed it
may be infected.
A more detailed probe undertaken by a laboratory in Tuebingen, Germany
refuted the first test, Tyrol governor Wendelin Weingartner said. The
agency quoted Weingartner as saying the test on a brain sample of the
Austrian-born cow at the Federal Research Institute for Viral Diseases in
Tuebingen was completed much more quickly than expected. The result of the
test was earlier said to be available by Thursday.
Austrian government officials were relieved by word the test in Tuebingen
was negative. Only hours earlier, Ferdinand Eberle, Weingartner's deputy,
reported experts had detected traces of meat and bone meal in animal feed
at the farm where the suspected cow was born. The meat and bone meal,
which has been banned in Austria for the last 10 years, was found in animal
feed purchased from a producer in southern Germany, Eberle said.
--
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