Germany reports first case of mad cow disease in seven years

The German Veterinary Services reported one case of spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. This disease is also known as mad cow disease. The information on the detection of this disease was received by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This is the first case of detection of spongiform encephalopathy in cattle in Germany in the past seven years. Earlier, BSE was registered in the country in February 2014. It is specified that the disease was detected in a 14-year-old cow. The biomaterial was taken from the animal as part of the German targeting surveillance system for BSE. The study was carried out in the regional laboratory of Bavaria and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute. Earlier, an outbreak of mad cow disease was confirmed by the OIE in the English county of Somerset (UK). Mad cow disease first appeared in the UK in the 1980s and has spread to many countries around the world. The reason was that the farmers fed their livestock meat and bone meal to dead and ...