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TOKYO —(AP)— Despite earlier assertions that young cattle are not infected with so-called "mad cow" disease, Japanese officials confirmed Tuesday that a 21 month-old bull is the country's ninth known case. The animal would be only the second in Japan to be infected with the fatal brain-wasting disease at so young an age, and the first to be born after Tokyo tightened controls on the cattle feed that is believed to spread the illness. The bull tested positive at a slaughterhouse in western Hiroshima Prefecture (state) on Oct. 29, according to Yuki Ueda, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. It has been killed, he said. A second ministry official, Makoto Kanie, said a panel of experts who later reviewed the case confirmed that the animal had the disease, known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. The panel also concluded that it was not a new strain of BSE, Kyodo News agency said. The discovery comes after Japan adopted stricter screening methods, including more sensitive tests, in the past month. Ministry spokesman Shiroaki Ogura said authorities began relying on the new tests after the first young animal, a 23 month-old bull, tested positive on Sept. 29. That finding had prompted Health Minister Chikara Sakaguchi to acknowledge that young cattle could be infected, contradicting earlier declarations against the possibility. Agriculture officials later raised the prospect that the animal might be carrying a new strain of the disease, after tests showed heightened resistance to certain enzymes. Authorities immediately quarantined 604 cows. Japan was the first country to find an infected cow outside of Europe, where it has devastated cattle farms. Within months, Tokyo banned the use of meat and bone meal — made from ruminant animal parts — in cattle feed, which authorities believe led to the outbreak. All other infected cattle, including the most recent case in January, were between five and six years old. In Europe, only three cattle younger than 30 months have tested positive for the disease since 2001. Agriculture Ministry official Tatsumi Okura said Tuesday's confirmation is the first of an animal born after Tokyo's meat and bone meal ban went into effect. ``This happened in Europe, too,'' he said. ``Contamination at feed-producing plants or somewhere else in the distribution chain may be to blame.'' Mad cow is thought to cause the fatal human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The outbreak in Japan, although limited, caused a public uproar and emptied out many restaurants specializing in beef dishes. |
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