Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters — The Brazilian government reported on Friday a case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an animal in Mato Grosso state, according to a statement from the country’s agriculture ministry. The ministry said the case of BSE, also known as mad cow disease, was detected in a 17-year-old cow. It […] Read more
Brazil reports atypical BSE case
China faces long struggle to tackle African swine fever, OIE says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — It will take years for China to contain the deadly African swine fever virus that has spread throughout the country, which is the world’s biggest pork producer, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday. China has been struggling to control the epidemic, which some analysts predict could see […] Read more
Scotland identifies ‘classical’ BSE case
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Scotland’s government said on Thursday that a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) had been discovered on a farm in Aberdeenshire, the first in Britain since 2015. A quarantine area has been put in place around the farm while inspectors try to identify the origin of the disease. “I have activated […] Read more
OIE declares Brazil free of foot-and-mouth, with vaccination
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) declared Brazil free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) with vaccination on Thursday, opening new export prospects for the world’s largest beef exporter. The OIE already considered most of Brazil to be free of FMD with vaccination. The declaration, which the government had been expecting since […] Read more
Philippines reports first avian flu outbreak
Reading Time: 2 minutes Manila | Reuters — The Philippines will cull 200,000 chickens, quails and ducks after confirming the country’s first outbreak of bird flu, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said on Friday. The avian flu outbreak was detected in a farm in San Luis municipality in Pampanga province, north of the capital Manila, which later spread to five […] Read more
Low-path bird flu turns up in Wisconsin turkeys
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The U.S. has reported an outbreak of avian flu on a farm in Wisconsin, the second in the country in less than a week although the virus found this time is considered less virulent, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday. A strain of low-pathogenic H5N2 avian flu […] Read more
More BSE tests, no BSE seen in 2016
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian beef cattle producers handed over more samples in 2016 than in 2015 to be tested for BSE, turning up zero cases of the brain-wasting disease. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on Monday reported 27,346 samples were submitted to the national BSE surveillance program in 2016 — up four per cent from 26,285 in 2015, but […] Read more
Proliferation of bird flu outbreaks raises pandemic risk
Reading Time: 4 minutes London | Reuters — The global spread of bird flu and the number of viral strains currently circulating and causing infections have reached unprecedented levels, raising the risk of a potential human outbreak, according to disease experts. Multiple outbreaks have been reported in poultry farms and wild flocks across Europe, Africa and Asia in the […] Read more
Ireland reports BSE case, says no risk to health
Reading Time: < 1 minute Dublin | Reuters — Ireland said Wednesday that a dead cow had been confirmed as having bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), but said it had not entered the food chain and there was no risk to human health or beef’s trade status. The animal tested positive for “atypical” BSE, Ireland’s agriculture department said in a statement, […] Read more
Livestock transport regulations up for comment
Reading Time: 4 minutes The public can comment until mid-February on proposed new livestock transport regulations which the government says will help Canada line up with international standards and limit how long livestock can go unfed during shipping. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday announced amendments to the federal Health of Animals Regulations dealing with transportation have been […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
