BSE spread reaches Austria


Cattle importation is increasing the likelihood of BSE spreading in Europe

VIENNA, Austria -- Austria has reported its first probable case of mad cow disease after tests on an animal slaughtered in Germany,

The discovery comes a day after Italy said it found the first suspected case in a native cow.

Austria's Governor Wendelin Weingartner of Tyrol province said the cow was born in the province and was slaughtered in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, came up positive, Weingartner said.

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Mad cow disease, which erupted in Britain in the 1980s, is believed to be linked to the fatal human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed at least 80 people in Britain and two in France.

New testing has been ordered in Austria in an attempt to confirm the initial results.

If the infection is confirmed, the whole herd from where the animal originated from will be slaughtered, Weingartner said.

Austria has prohibited the feeding of cattle with meat and bone meal since 1990.

Mad cow, which leaves holes in the brains of infected animals, is believed to be transmitted when cattle eat fodder with ground parts of infected animals.

With Tyrol bordering Germany, it is possible that such cattle feed might have been illegally given Austrian cattle.

Italy has warned it is likely to find more mad cow disease cases after the new suspected infection was discovered on Sarturday in the northern region of Lombardy.

"We are a country that imports many animals, so we cannot exclude finding cases of (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) BSE," Farm Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio told the La Stampa newspaper.

A few years ago in Sicily, two cows imported from Britain were found to have the brain-wasting disease, but no case in a native Italian cow had been reported before Saturday's announcement.

The disease has caused a major scare across Europe in recent weeks.

Destroying stocks

European Union countries stepped up testing of slaughtered cattle for signs of mad cow disease two weeks ago after the discovery of BSE cases in countries such as Germany and Spain that had considered themselves free of the disease.

All cattle over 30 months are required to be proven BSE-free before the beef can be sold.

Meat from any that are not tested may not enter the food chain.

The measures have sparked protests by farmers in Europe.

In Germany, the new minister for agriculture and consumer protection said on Sunday that the country will step up research on the disease.

"We currently have far too little knowledge about the infection's transmission," said Renate Kuenast, appointed last week after two of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's ministers resigned over the country's seven-week mad cow crisis.

"In addition, reliable tests are a long way off," she said on Central German Radio.

The German army also is destroying stocks of troop rations containing meat and sausage that were produced before October 1, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping's order also gives everyone in the armed forces the right to be served beef-free meals, a ministry spokesman said.

Germany has recorded 13 BSE cases since first confirming the disease in November.

In France, about 150 animals were discovered with the disease last year, compared to 31 the year before, in part because of the broadened screening of cows.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.