Denmark investigates 'mad cow' disease case

February 28, 2000
Web posted at: 11:01 a.m. EST (1601 GMT)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) -- Agricultural and veterinary officials in Denmark are investigating the first case of so-called "mad cow" disease in the country since 1992.

The Danish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food raised the alarm on Monday after a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was found on a dairy farm in Himmerland in northern Jutland.

A local veterinarian suspected something was wrong when the cow began behaving strangely and a test for the disease came back positive. The cow was immediately destroyed and the rest of the herd of 73 is under observation. Officials are now trying to determine how the cow became infected.

BSE has been linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Scientists believe they have found evidence linking the consumption of BSE-contaminated beef with the human disease which can cause fatal brain damage. No cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease have been reported in Denmark.

Denmark's only previously known case of BSE was in August 1992 when a single cow, imported from Britain, was found to have contracted the disease. At that time, the whole herd was put down and cremated immediately, an official at the Danish Livestock and Meat Board said Monday.

The European Union banned the export of British beef in 1996 at the height of fears over BSE. The European Commission has begun legal action against France and Germany for ignoring its demands to lift the ban on the import of British beef.

CNN Denmark's Ann Thomsen and Reuters contributed to this report.

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The official Mad Cow disease home page
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy [cowtown.org] (National Cattlemen's Association)
A mad, mad, mad, mad world
How Now Mad Cow?
Mad Cow Disease (BSE) (Compuserve)

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