Austria confirms first BSE case

The Austrian farm where the first case of BSE has surfaced

VIENNA, Austria -- The Austrian Government has confirmed its first case of mad cow disease.

Sweden is now the only country in the European Union to have not recorded any cases of the brain wasting illness.

Scientists said on Friday that mandatory testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on a cow slaughtered last Thursday had proved positive.

Tissue samples had been dispatched for independent verification to a laboratory in England.

"The four tests undertaken in Austria were fully confirmed by the laboratory in Weybridge. Austria has its first case of BSE," Gerald Grosz, spokesman for Health Minister Herbert Haupt, told Reuters.

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The 70-month-old contaminated cow, born and reared in Austria, came from a farm near Gmuend in the eastern province of Lower Austria.

The farm and slaughterhouse have both been shut to allow for further testing on the other animals and their feed.

Finland also reported its first case of BSE last week.

Austria, one of Europe's leading organic farming regions, has long prided itself on its strict environmental laws and high veterinary standards.

Meat and bone meal products, suspected of carrying the disease, have been banned within its borders since 1990.

The government has moved to reassure the public that rigorous testing on all slaughtered cattle will prevent any contaminated beef from reaching consumers.

The human form of mad cow disease, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), is thought to have killed about 100 people in Europe, mainly in the UK.

Scientists suspect it is transmitted by eating contaminated beef.