News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A third case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) has been reported in a US resident, but health officials believe he contracted the disease in Saudi Arabia when he was a child.

(CIDRAP News) – Japan has conditionally agreed to resume importing US beef, long banned from the country because of concern about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Under an agreement completed today, Japan will send inspectors to the United States this weekend to check beef processing plants and, if they find no problems, will then allow shipments to resume, according to an Agence-France Presse (AFP) report published today.

(CIDRAP News) – Japan has lifted its ban on the importation of American beef, nearly 2 years after the discovery of the first US case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) triggered the boycott.

(CIDRAP News) – A second case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) has been reported in a US resident, although American authorities said he is thought to have contracted the illness in his native Britain.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States' second case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed last week after a series of additional tests were run on samples from a beef cow that had originally tested negative last November.

Feb 10, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – The United States stands by its plan to reopen the border to young Canadian cattle Mar 7 but will keep the border closed to meat from older Canadian cattle, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – To help prevent the spread of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in the United States, a federal advisory committee recommended yesterday that anyone who received a blood transfusion in France after 1980 should not be allowed to give blood.

(CIDRAP News) – Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a goat for the first time, but the finding poses little risk to consumers, European Commission (EC) officials announced Jan 28.

(CIDRAP News) – US and Japanese negotiators have reached general agreement on steps for resuming their beef trade after a 10-month interruption caused by the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Washington state last December.