Despite mad cow case in US, beef in the Caribbean remains safe

Thursday, December 25, 2003

WASHINGTON, USA: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Friday that despite the detection of a possible case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in the United States, the safety status of meat in the Caribbean remains unchanged and presents no cause for alarm.

"We have the necessary tools to control the situation and to eliminate any possibility of risk," said Dr. Albino Belotto, chief of PAHO's Veterinary Public Health Unit.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman confirmed the detection of a possible case of BSE in a single cow in the state of Washington. This would represent the first sign of BSE in the United States. As a precautionary measure, the farm from which the sick cow originated, in the town of Mabton, was quarantined.

In a news conference, Veneman said that preliminary tests on tissue from the Holstein cow-which was ill prior to slaughter and probably not destined for human consumption-showed signs of BSE. Samples have been forwarded to the world reference laboratory in England for confirmation.

"Even though the risk to human health is minimal based on current evidence, we will take all appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution," said Veneman. She also discarded the possibility that the incident was related to terrorism.

Belotto said that risk analysis studies carried out in a number of Latin American countries confirm that both that region and the Caribbean are free of BSE and its human form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

South America has an estimated 290 million head of cattle, representing approximately 10 percent of the world's bovine population. The English-speaking Caribbean, however, is a net importer of beef and other animal products.

For this reason, PAHO says it is imperative to maintain surveillance systems on the alert to detect any signs of the disease. The introduction of BSE would also raise the threat of commercial embargoes.

When BSE first emerged in England in 1986, PAHO began promoting prevention and control of the disease. Since then, the only indigenous case reported in the Americas was in Alberta, Canada, in 2002, and subsequent control measures were considered successful.

A WHO report in 1995 concluded that "current control policies are considered adequate to minimize the risk of exposure to BSE of all species, including humans."

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