Spain has reported a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly called mad cow disease, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) says.
The diseased cow belonged to a herd of 134 cattle on a farm near the city of Salamanca in the northwestern region of Castilla-Leon, according to a report issued on Friday to the OIE by Spain’s ministry for agriculture, food and the environment.
The animal was destroyed after routine controls found that it tested positive for atypical BSE type L.
BSE was first reported in Britain in the mid-1980s and linked to a human variant of the fatal brain-wasting disease.
The number of cases of BSE plummeted after bans were introduced on feed that included meat and bone meal from infected cows believed to cause the disease.
