Latest Japan Mad Cow Case and Italy Cases 'Similar'
Date: 15-Oct-03
Country: JAPAN
"What we know at this point is that the (results) of the Western Blot tests of the diseased Japanese cattle and that of the Italian cattle are very similar," he said, referring to a test commonly used on animals thought to be infected.
Japanese government officials said on October 6 that the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), had been found in a 23-month-old Holstein bull from Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo.
It was the eighth case in Japan since the first was discovered in September 2001. The previous case was in January.
Experts in Japan had said that some of the test results in the most recent case showed that the abnormal proteins causing the disease were of a different type to those previously reported.
However, the Farm Ministry official said Italian experts had reported two cases in Italy at a recent academic conference in Germany that showed similar test results to those of the Japanese animal.
Even so, there were significant differences, notably the age of the cattle.
The recent Japanese case was the first to be confirmed in an animal less than two years old.
The disease has a long incubation period of around two to eight years and many scientists believe young animals are unlikely to have the abnormal proteins.
The two similar cases in Italy were in cattle about 11-12 years old, but the sex of the animals was unknown.
The Farm Ministry official said the cases in Italy were discovered in 2002, although they were first reported at the recent international conference.
"We would like to contact the (Italian authorities) to ask them for more information on the cases, as it could shed light on the Japanese case," he said.
Mad cow disease has been linked to variant Creuzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which has killed more than 100 people in Europe, although there have been no deaths from the disease in Japan.