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Tests have confirmed Canada's fifth case of mad cow disease since 2003.
The disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was found in a 6-year-old dairy cow on a farm in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, CTV News reported.
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"Our investigation has taken us back to the farm, which is known to be the birth farm of this cow, and we're in the process of assembling, through farm records, those herd mates that were of similar age and likely consumed the same feed," said George Luterbach, a senior veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
"These animals will be removed, destroyed and tested," he told CTV News.
No part of the infected cow entered the human or animal feed systems, officials said. Late last week it was announced that Canada's BSE surveillance program had identified the diseased cow, but initial tests for BSE proved inconclusive.
There are concerns that confirmation of another case of mad cow disease could harm Canada's efforts to get the United States to reopen its borders to Canadian cows older than 30 months.
However, Luterbach said Canada's trading partners recognize that BSE control measures are in place in Canada and the CFIA does not anticipate that other countries will respond severely to this latest case of mad cow disease, CTV News reported.
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