UK identifies atypical case of ‘mad cow' disease
Britain culled millions of cows during a BSE epidemic in the 1990s. PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - A case of atypical 'mad cow disease' has been found on a farm in eastern England, Britain's animal health agency said on May 20, but authorities said there was no food risk.
A cow in the county of Essex showed clinical signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), as the neurologic disease is officially termed, and was culled on site, it said.
The news came one day after Britain signed a post-Brexit agreement with the European Union, including a deal to reduce checks on food and plant products.
BSE was first identified in Britain almost 40 years ago and has since spread around the world, causing a crisis in the beef industry.
'Atypical BSE is distinct from classical BSE and is a spontaneously and sporadically occurring, non-contagious disease which is believed to occur at a very low level in all cattle populations,' chief veterinary officer Christine Middlemiss said in a statement from the agency.
The atypical variant sporadically occurs in older cattle, while the classic form is spread when farmers feed their herds with the meat and bone meal of infected animals.
This is the fourth case of atypical mad cow disease in the UK since 2015.
The previous occurrence of the disease occurred in December 2024 in Scotland.
The classic form poses more danger to humans, while BSE is linked to the fatal human condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease if contaminated meat is eaten.
'There is no food safety risk' following the latest incident, James Cooper, deputy director of food policy at Britain's Food Standards Agency, said on May 20.
'There are strict controls in place to protect consumers from the risk of BSE, including controls on animal feed, and removal of the parts of cattle most likely to carry BSE infectivity.'
The government said it had informed the World Organisation for Animal Health as well as trading partners regarding the case.
'This does not affect the UK's ability to export beef to other countries,' it added.
Britain culled millions of cows during a BSE epidemic in the 1990s.
Under the new deal with the EU, the UK will be able to sell British burgers and sausages in the neighbouring bloc. AFP
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Rate of Gaza children suffering acute malnutrition nearly triples, survey shows
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinian children, one with an empty pot, sit while waiting to receive food from a charity kitchen, in Gaza City, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj/File Photo GENEVA - The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday. The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system. After the two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it - something the militant group denies. Around 5.8% out of nearly 50,000 children under five who were screened in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, an analysis by a group of U.N. and other aid agencies known as the nutrition cluster showed. This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the rate in February during a pause in fighting in the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas, the analysis said. It did not specify the exact rate in February, nor say how many children were screened. The analysis also reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition cases among children -- a life-threatening condition that compromises the immune system. It said centres to support medical complications from severe cases in north Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave have been forced to close, leaving children without access to lifesaving treatment. It did not give a reason for the closures but many medical centres have run out of supplies, been damaged in the war or attacked by Israel, which accuses Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hamas denies using them in this way. A Palestinian minister reported 29 starvation-related deaths among the children and elderly in just a few days last month. Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that doctors in the Gaza Strip were donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Rate of Gaza children suffering acute malnutrition rate nearly triples, survey shows
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinian children, one with an empty pot, sit while waiting to receive food from a charity kitchen, in Gaza City, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj/File Photo GENEVA - The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday. The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system. After the two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it - something the militant group denies. Around 5.8% out of nearly 50,000 children under five who were screened in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, an analysis by a group of U.N. and other aid agencies known as the nutrition cluster showed. This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the rate in February during a pause in fighting in the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas, the analysis said. It did not specify the exact rate in February, nor say how many children were screened. The analysis also reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition cases among children -- a life-threatening condition that compromises the immune system. It said centres to support medical complications from severe cases in north Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave have been forced to close, leaving children without access to lifesaving treatment. It did not give a reason for the closures but many medical centres have run out of supplies, been damaged in the war or attacked by Israel, which accuses Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hamas denies using them in this way. A Palestinian minister reported 29 starvation-related deaths among the children and elderly in just a few days last month. Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that doctors in the Gaza Strip were donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Gaza doctors give their own blood to patients after scores gunned down seeking aid
A child looks on as Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee their homes after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from Israel, June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen Gaza doctors give their own blood to patients after scores gunned down seeking aid GENEVA - Doctors in the Gaza Strip are donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday. Around 100 MSF staff protested outside the UN headquarters in Geneva against an aid distribution system in Gaza run by an Israeli-backed private company, which has led to chaotic scenes of mass carnage. "People need the basics of also need it in dignity," MSF Switzerland's director general, Stephen Cornish, told Reuters at the protest. "If you're fearing for your life, running with packages being mowed down, this is just something that is completely beyond everything we've ever seen," he said. "These attacks have killed were left to bleed out on the ground." Cornish said staff at one of the hospitals where MSF operates had to give blood as most Palestinians are now too poorly nourished to donate. Israel allowed the private Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to begin food distribution in Gaza last week, after having completely shut the Gaza Strip to all supplies since the beginning of March. Gaza authorities say at least 102 Palestinians were killed and nearly 500 wounded trying to get aid from the food distribution sites in the first eight days. Eyewitnesses have said Israeli forces fired on crowds. The Israeli military said Hamas militants were to blame for opening fire, though it acknowledged that on Tuesday, when at least 27 people died, that its troops had fired at "suspects" who approached their positions. The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Wednesday supported by all other Council members, which would have called for an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" in Gaza and unhindered access for aid. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
