A cow from Alabama has become the third animal in the United States to died from mad cow disease. The Agriculture Department confirmed the diagnosis on Monday after extensive tests were conducted.
The animal was a beef cattle but had not yet entered the food supply for either animals or humans according to John Clifford, the chief veterinarian of the Agriculture Department.
Clifford said follow-up tests in a lab in Ames, Iowa confirmed the preliminary indication that the animal suffered from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) more commonly known as mad cow disease.
If humans eat an animal contaminated with BSE, they can develop the human form of the disease, known as Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease. It is often fatal in humans.
The diseased cow spent the past year at the Alabama farm but investigators were still researching the history of the animal.
The first cow infected with BSE was found in Washington state. It was a Canadian-born animal which died in December 2003. The second case came in June 2005 in an animal born in Texas.
The discovery of another case of mad cow disease means potential trouble for the American beef industry. Japan and other countries stopped importing American beef after the first two cases were discovered. It remains to be seen what action, if any will be taken by any foreign government in this latest case of mad cow disease.
