Sixth mad cow case confirmed
From correspondents in Tokyo
January 20, 2003
TESTS have confirmed a sixth case of mad cow disease in Japan.
The affected animal was a seven-year-old Holstein cow in Wakayama
Prefecture in the country's south-west.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said it was confirmed infected
with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
The cow was born in 1996 on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido
Prefecture, the ministry said.
More conclusive results were to be made available tomorrow, the Kyodo News
agency reported.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,5859978%255E401,00.html
Japan is currently the only Asian nation to confirm the presence of the
brain-wasting disease, which triggered a health scare that has decimated
beef consumption and exports.
BSE is linked to the fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in
humans.It is suspected the Phillipines could have at least one known victim.
