Japan, Austria report new cases of mad cow disease
Infected animals destroyed

Mad cow disease has been found in two places on separate sides of the world, Austria and Japan.

The Associated Press reports that Japan's case of mad cow was its 26th, a five-year-old Holstein dairy cow near the city of Hokkaido. Austria's was its fourth, found on a farm that officials described as being in upper Austria.

In both cases, the infected animals were destroyed and their carcasses were incinerated. Austrian health officials also said all the cattle on the farm had been destroyed.

Ironically, the news of the latest case in Japan comes right before Japanese officials were to meet with U.S. representatives to discuss lifting a ban on U.S. beef imports because of two reported cases of the disease in the United States, the latest one in March 2006.

Mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encepalopathy BSE) has a human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), for which there is no cure. The United Kingdom has been hardest hit with 23 reported fatal cases between 2003 and 2004.

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Last updated 5/15/2006