Tests have confirmed mad cow disease in what appears to be the first case in a U.S.-born animal, the Agriculture Department announced today. Officials would not specify where the case was found, but Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said there is no evidence the cow was imported. A laboratory in Weybridge, England confirmed the case after U.S. tests produced conflicting results, Johanns said. The animal had been tested last year and was determined to be disease-free. But new tests were ordered two weeks ago, reversing the diagnosis and leading officials to seek confirmation from the British laboratory. The first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States was confirmed in late 2003. It turned up in a Washington state dairy cow imported from Canada. Like the first case, the new case was in an animal at least 8 years old, meaning it was born before the United States banned cattle parts in cattle feed, which is how the brain-wasting disease is thought to spread. Human health is not at risk in the new case, Johanns said, because the cow's inability to walk banned it from the food supply. "I am encouraged that our interlocking safeguards are working exactly as intended," Johanns told reporters. "This animal was blocked from entering the food supply because of the firewalls we have in place. Americans have every reason to continue to be confident in the safety of our beef."
