Published Date: 2002-05-15 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> BSE - Japan (02)
Archive Number: 20020515.4210
BSE - JAPAN (02)
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[1]
Date: 13 May 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Kyodo News, 13 May 2002 [edited]
<http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/display3para.jsp?an=20020513188&cate=>
Gov't panel confirms 4th Japanese cow infected with BSE
-------------------------------------------------------
A Hokkaido cow was confirmed Mon 13 May 2002 to be infected with mad
cow disease in the fourth case detected in Japan since September 2001,
supporting theories that the disease may be prevalent in the country,
health ministry officials said.
A panel of experts appointed by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry made
the confirmation based on data gathered from a pathological examination, as
well as from a western blot examination, a more elaborate screening for the
disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the
officials said.
******
[2]
Date: 13 May 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: BBC News, Mon 13 May 2002 [edited]
Fourth BSE case in Japan
------------------------
The Japanese authorities have confirmed a fourth case of mad cow disease,
or BSE. Health ministry officials said a dairy cow at a farm in Hokkaido,
in northern Japan, had tested positive for the disease.
Correspondents say the news is a blow to Japan's food safety reputation,
just weeks before large numbers of visitors are due to arrive for the
football World Cup finals, which it is co-hosting with South Korea. The
first Asian case of BSE was found in Japan last September [2001].
******
[3]
Date: 14 May 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Kyodo-News on line, 14 May 2002 [edited]
<http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/display3para.jsp?an=20020514105&cate=>
Gov't may target cows born in 1996 for intensified BSE tests
-------------------------------------------------
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe said Tue
13 May 2002 the government may conduct intensified screening of cows born
in 1996 for mad cow disease because all 4 cows found so far in Japan to
have been infected with the disease were born in that year.
''I think it's important information that the birthdays of the 4 cows were
extremely close to each other,'' Takebe told a press conference.
According to the farm ministry, 2 of the 4 animals were born 26 Mar 1996,
and the remaining 2 were born 23 Mar and 4 Apr 1996, meaning they were born
within 2 weeks [of each other].
*****
[4]
Date: Mon 13 May 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Yahoo Singapore news, 12 May 2002 [edited]
<http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020512/1/2pcz0.html>
Japanese mad-cow cases seen only in cows born in 1996
--------------------------------------------
The Japanese government was narrowing the focus of its investigation for
the source of mad-cow infections after finding all 4 cases were born in the
spring of 1996.
The 4 cows infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Japan
were female Holstein cows born in March or April 1996, the health ministry
said. The ministry announced the fourth case Saturday 11 May 2002 after
testing a slaughtered cow at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and
Veterinary Medicine, on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Of the 4 infected cows, including the latest case, 3 were born on Hokkaido.
The other was born in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo.
"It appears that there are common elements among the cases. We must ask the
agriculture ministry for a thorough investigation over the elements,"
Satoshi Takaya, director of the health ministry's food safety division,
told reporters late Saturday. Officials from the agriculture ministry and
health ministry could not be reached for comment Sunday.
The government suspects cattle feed containing meat and bone meal from
contaminated animals is a possible source of the mad-cow infections in
Japan.
Japan has tested all cows slaughtered for beef since October 2001 for the
disease, after the first case came to light in September 2001. In November
2001, 2 more cases were found.
The scare has triggered a massive slump in domestic beef sales. Experts
suspect that eating BSE-tainted beef can, among humans, lead to a fatal
brain-wasting disorder known as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The possibility that contaminated milk-replacers could have been involved
in the Japanese -- as well as other -- BSE cases, has been previously
discussed (see last 2 refs to source, below). The common elements among
the 4 cases are intriguing and deserve further investigation. Kyodo News
Agency reported on 1 Dec 2001 ("All 3 Japanese cows with BSE were fed with
same milk substitute") that the Hokkaido farmers who raised the first 2
cows -- found infected with BSE in September and November 2001 -- said they
were fed with a substitute [milk-replacer] produced at a factory in the
Gunma Prefecture. Moreover, according to the news agency, the Gunma
prefectural government suspected that the same milk-replacer was used for
the feeding of the third cow, said to [have been] raised in Miyagi, Gunma.
The
product is said to be fed to calves up to 7 weeks old. Hopefully, the
epidemiological investigations will be able to clarify the matter.
In the moderator's comment of 11 May 2002 ("BSE - Japan", see ref below) it
was said that all 4 cases have occurred in dairy farms on the island of
Hokkaido. However, the third case, as reported by Japan to the OIE on 5 Dec
2001, was a Holstein cow aged 5 years and 8 months that had been kept on a
dairy farm in Seida Gun, Gunma Prefecture. Thanks to Rebecca Winter,
Livestock editor, "Queensland Country Life", for her attentive comment. -
Mod.AS].
See Also
BSE - Japan 20020511.4172BSE - update (03) Mar 2002 20020303.3671
BSE - update (04) Mar 2002 20020325.3816
BSE - update (05) Apr 2002 20020415.3961
2001
----
BSE - Japan: confirmed (05) 20011202.2938
BSE - Japan: OIE report 20011127.2896
BSE - Japan: source 20011213.3016
BSE - Denmark: source 20011224.3108
...................................mpp/as/mpp/pg/jw
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