WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. officials have quarantined two calves from the Washington state cow that had mad-cow disease even though mother-to-calf transmission is unlikely.
One calf is at the same dairy near Mabton, Wash., that was the final home of the stricken Holstein cow, said Dr. Ronald DeHaven, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian. The other calf is at a bull-calf feeding operation in Sunnyside, Wash.
"The reason for concern with these calves is that even though it is an unlikely means of spreading the disease, there is the potential that the infected cow could pass the disease onto its calves," he told the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, an expensive overhaul of the nation's cattle-screening program is expected in the wake of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease.
The discovery, announced late Tuesday, created wide concern about the safety of beef, and the price of beef.
