SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The government of the northern Brazilian state of Para confirmed on Wednesday a case of mad cow disease that was being investigated since Monday.
“The symptomatology indicates that it is the atypical form of the disease, which appears spontaneously in nature, causing no risk of dissemination to the herd and to humans,” Para’s agricultural defense agency said in a statement.
The sick animal was on a property in the southeast of the state with 160 head of cattle. The site has been inspected and preventively interdicted, the agency said.
Samples were sent to a laboratory in Canada to identify if it was the classic form of the disease or its “atypical” version, it added.
In 2021, two cases of the disease, formally called Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, were confirmed in Brazil, triggering a temporary suspension in beef exports to China, a major buyer of the Brazilian protein.
(Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
