020810 US Cattle Group Not Alarmed by Canada vCJD Case

Chicago (Reuters) - The United States' largest cattle organization said there was no need for consumers to be alarmed after Canada reported its first death from the human form of mad cow disease since the man probably contracted the disease while in Britain.

"Canada does not have bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease," said the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) in a statement. "The United States does not have BSE."

Health Canada officials said a man died in a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan hospital from variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease (vCJD), which is the human form of mad cow disease, a brain-wasting and fatal malady.

The officials would not disclose the man's name or age, but said the victim probably got the disease while in Britain.

BSE has been kept out of the United States because of aggressive prevention efforts that began in 1989 with import bans on live ruminant animals and animal products from any BSE countries, the NCBA said.

Scientists believe people contract vCJD by eating beef from cattle infected with BSE. The disease has first discovered in Britain in 1986 and about 115 human cases of vCJD have been reported in Europe, most of them in Britain.

"The man, who has died in a hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, apparently spent an extensive amount of time in the United Kingdom, and health officials believe that is where he contracted the disease," the NCBA said.

While there have been no cases of BSE in native cattle in North America, BSE in 1993 was detected in a single cow in Canada in 1993 imported from Great Britain.

Canada destroyed the affected cow and all its herdmates, as well as other cattle determined to be a risk by Canadian animal health officials.

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