PUBLIC HEALTH: New mad cow scare
Posted on Fri, Nov. 19, 2004
U.S. reports possible new case of mad cow disease
By Johanna Neuman
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - U.S. Department of Agriculture officials announced Thursday that they had discovered a possible new case of mad cow disease but cautioned that the preliminary positive test was "inconclusive."
Final results should be available from the USDA lab in four to seven days, officials said.
After the first U.S. case was discovered last December in a cow in Washington state, the USDA instituted a rapid-screening test on cows considered at risk for the disease older cattle, "downers" too ill to walk, cattle displaying symptoms of neurological ailments as well as on 20,000 healthy cows.