“Atypical Mad Cow Disease Detected in South Carolina Slaughterhouse: USDA”

A case of mad cow disease ” atypical “ was detected at a slaughterhouse in South Carolina, the US Department of Agriculture announced on Friday.

L’animal “never entered the slaughter line and at no time presented a risk to the food chain or human health in the United States”adds the ministry in a press release, without specifying the date of this discovery.

The United States has a “negligible risk status” with regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the degenerative infection of the central nervous system of cattle also called mad cow disease, “and we do not expect any commercial impact as a result of this discovery”says the ministry.

This is the 7th case of BSE detected in the United States for 20 years. All, except one, were atypical, that is to say linked to the aging of the animals and presenting no risk of transmission to humans.

A disease that appeared in the 1980s

Mad cow disease first emerged in Britain in the 1980s and has spread to many countries in Europe and the rest of the world, causing a crisis in the beef industry.

This disease can cause in humans, by ingestion of meat or offal, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal neurodegenerative syndrome.