Four cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) were diagnosed in Irish herds last month. an MacConnell reports. According to the Department of Agriculture and Food, this was two more cases than in April 1998. It brings to 33 the number of cases recorded since the beginning of this year.
It is also a higher figure than at this time last year when there were 27 cases recorded, and points to an upward trend rather than a downturn. Since 1989, when the disease was first identified in the Irish herd, 385 cases of BSE have been found. The most recent cases, in older animals, were found in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Clare and Limerick. Two of the animals, in Clare and Cavan, were aged six and the other two were four-year-olds.