Scientists in Italy have officially confirmed a second home-grown case of mad cow disease in the country.
Veterinary experts at the Turin institute said a five-year-old cow which died suddenly in a stable near the northern city of Mantua was infected with mad cow disease.
A preliminary test on the suspected carrier two days earlier had tested positive.
Italy reported its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an Italian-born cow near the northern city of Brescia on January 16th in a cow born in September 1994.
Another suspect case on January 24th was dismissed less than two weeks later as a false alarm after further laboratory tests were carried out.
Two other animals infected with the pathogen that causes BSE had been detected in 1994 but the pair were imported from Britain.
Italy has conducted 20,000 tests since the start of the year after the European Union made BSE tests compulsory on January 1st.
A total of 800,000 Italian animals are to be tested by the end of the year, among a total cattle population of 7.5 million.
AFP