`Mad Cow' on the rampage in UK again

`Mad Cow' on the rampage in UK again
REUTERS

LONDON, AUG 29: Britain faced a new front in its war on `Mad Cow' disease on Tuesday when top researchers said a whole range of farm animals could be silent carriers of the deadly disorder. So far, scientists have focused on cattle in battling a disease that slowly wastes the brains of its victims.

Now a government adviser has raised the possibility that apparently healthy people and animals - from cows to pigs - could also be carriers, despite showing no signs of infection.

"Although they may not show any signs of disease, no matter how long they live, they could still harbour high levels of the infectious agent and therefore pose a risk," said Professor John Collinge, who led the team that made the discovery. His research provoked fears that if the infection lay hidden in the farmyard, it could travel without check. Pigs, poultry and sheep could carry this risk, long associated with cows, according to the laboratory research on mice and hamsters. Apparently, healthy cows could also turn out to be deadly carriers, Collinge's team revealed in the journal `Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'.

The Government welcomed the research but said it had no plans to widen its public health controls as a result. "We work and we work. It's an important contribution to our understanding of BSE and (its human equivalent) CJD," an Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. She said the Government had asked its scientific advisers to examine the new findings at their next meeting on September 29, adding: "We base our policy on science and the most up-to-date science available. Our advisers say it is not yet clear whether it is necessary to increase controls."

Although Britain has reported more than 178,500 cases of BSE in cows, the number of people who have died from the human equivalent stands at less than 100. But the disease has raised public fears about food safety and led to questions about how the Government juggles consumer and farmer interests.

Many species, such as sheep, pigs and poultry, were exposed to BSE via contaminated feed, meaning they might also harbour the newly-discovered, but hidden, infection, said Collinge.

He said measures to protect people against BSE were adequate but the implications should be examined. The controls include a bar on older cattle being fed to people and a ban on cow and sheep remains being fed to livestock that ends up as meat for human consumption. "With respect to the public health measures that are in place to control infection, I'm not sure really there are any immediate implications of this research," Professor Peter Smith of the Government's advisory committee told Sky TV.