Mad Cow: Brazilian case confirmed as atypical

Brail’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock confirmed Thursday (Mar. 2) that the case of mad cow disease discovered in the state of Pará is atypical, in other words, without risk of transmission. This possibility was already expected by the ministry.

The procedures to inform the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) and Chinese authorities have been initiated by the Brazilian government. Last week, Brazil had suspended the exportation of beef to China after the confirmation of the case. The suspension followed the sanitary protocol between both countries and sales will be resumed.

The atypical form of bovine spongiform encephalitis occurs in older animals, spontaneously by nature, instead of being transmitted in the classical way, by the ingestion of contaminated feed.

"Since this is an atypical case, that is to say, it occurred by natural causes in a single 9-year-old animal and all the sanitary measures were promptly taken, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is immediately adopting measures, according to the sanitary protocols, so that the Brazilian beef exports are reestablished as soon as possible," the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock said in a statement.