Department of Agriculture investigators are convinced they have found a second BSE-infected cow which was born after animal feed controls became fully operative in 1996. The cow, from a herd in Co Kerry, was believed to have been born in 1996, but following an examination of her teeth, vets concluded she was born a year later.
The animal is being dissected by the Veterinary College in Dublin, where it is expected marrow from the sternum will determine her age.
A Department spokesman said yesterday a small number of cases were likely to appear in animals born after 1996. This had also been the experience in other countries where bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was present.
In 1996, the compounding and milling of cattle and pig and poultry feed was segregated as it was discovered that contamination of cattle feed was continuing. This was because traces of infected meat and bone meal, which was legally being fed to pigs and poultry, were leaking into cattle feed.
The three new BSE cases reported last week, the Department said, were found in suckler herds in Meath and Cavan. The Meath animals were six and eight years old and the Cavan cow 10 years old.
This brings to 203 the cases found this year. Some 139 were identified by the active surveillance system which examined fallen and casualty animals at knackeries.
A total of 19 cases have been found at Irish meat plants, where all animals over 30 months are tested. So far this year, 263,098 tests have been carried out.
The Department has maintained that despite the discovery of two animals born after controls became fully operative, the underlying trend in BSE cases remains positive. It says the increasing age profile of animals confirmed with the disease indicates that the controls introduced in 1996 and early 1997 were proving effective.
Ireland's BSE controls were recognised by the EU's Scientific Steering Committee which indicated in a report in May 2000 that controls in the Republic were stable from 1996 onwards, very stable from 1997 onwards and optimally stable since January 1st, 1998.