(ANSA) - RIO DE JANEIRO, 04 SEPT - Two atypical cases of muccapazza have been detected in Brazil, with the consequent suspension of beef exports to China. The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture announced it last night.
This is a measure taken as part of a global protocol existing between the two countries, although the dicastery stressed that "there is no risk to human or animal health". The two cases are "atypical" because the disease appeared "spontaneously and sporadically, unrelated to the ingestion of contaminated food", explained a ministerial communiqué.
The two cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Bse) were identified during health inspections in the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso in elderly cattle, is specified by the Brazilian dicastery. "Brazil has never registered a classic BSE case," said the ministry, which officially notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Mad cow disease first appeared in the UK in the 1980s and has spread to many countries in Europe and around the world, causing consumer alarm and triggering a major crisis in the beef sector. The disease has been spread widely by ranchers who feed their livestock with the meat-and-bone meal of dead and infected animals. People have died after contracting the human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is believed to be transmitted by consuming infected meat. (HANDLE).