New mad cow case in Canada

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Washington does not expect Canada's latest case of mad cow to hurt trade between the two countries, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns says.

"Based on what I know at this time, I would not expect this Canadian detection to impact our trade with Canada," Johanns said.

He said he would send a specialist to investigate the incident, confirmed Wednesday in an Alberta bull that died on a farm last week.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the mature bull tested positive for mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

BSE has attracted wide attention because some fear the disease can be transmitted to people, causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare human brain-wasting disease, which killed 150 people, mostly in Britain.

No human deaths as a result of mad cow have been reported in Canada.

Eight other BSE cases have been detected in Canadian cattle since May 2003.