January 2008 Mad Cow News

ENGLAND: Doctors on alert for new group of ‘mad cow’ victims

Fears that the human version of “mad cow” disease could cause further waves of infection have, according to this story, been heightened by the first case yet identified in a person who is genetically distinct from previous patients.
All the deaths in Britain from the-brain condition have so far occurred among people with a particular genetic profile carried by about 40 per cent of the population. However, a 39-year-old woman who died recently of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has now been found to have had a different genetic type to other cases caused by eating beef infected with rogue prion proteins. Times Online Link


JAPAN: US beef makes a comeback in Japan

US beef has, according to this story, made some gains against Australia in the lucrative Japanese market, in the first full year of trading since the 2003 mad cow disease outbreak.
US beef exports to Japan rose more than eight-fold in 2007, while Australia's beef exports fell seven per cent. Australia had record export shipments in 2006. ABC.net.au Link