The Department of Agriculture is investigating a suspected case of BSE in Co Louth.
Tests were carried out on an animal to see if it has ailment, also known as mad cow disease, with results expected next week.
It is understood the animal did not enter the food chain.
The suspected case was found on a dairy farm in the county when a five-year-old cow passed away.
A statement from the Department of Agriculture said: “The Department today announced the identification of a suspected BSE case in County Louth. The case was identified through the Department’s on-going surveillance system on fallen animals (that is animals which die on farm). The animal was not presented for slaughter and did not enter the food chain.
“Confirmatory tests are being undertaken and results will be available in approxiately one week. If confirmed, this will be the first BSE case found in Ireland since 2013.”
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a disease that affects adult cattle. BSE attacks the brain and central nervous system of the animal and eventually causes death.
Commonly known as ‘Mad-Cow Disease’, BSE has a long incubation period. This means that it usually takes four to six years for cattle infected with BSE to show signs of the disease, such as disorientation, clumsiness and, occasionally, aggressive behaviour towards other animals and humans.
BSE only develops in cattle, but it belongs to a family of prion diseases, several of which can affect humans. The most commonly known disease in this group among humans is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). This is a rare and fatal form of dementia that normally occurs in individuals between the ages of 40 and 80.
CJD is not a new disease among humans, but in 1996, scientists discovered a new strain of CJD that occurs predominantly in younger people.
More recent evidence has shown that the protein that accumulates in the brains of individuals with this new form of CJD is similar to the protein found in cattle infected with BSE, rather than that found in classical CJD. Because of this discovery, the new illness in humans is known as variant CJD or vCJD.
The occurrence of a new form of CJD in the UK , where there was a high incidence of BSE, suggested that there might be a direct link between BSE and vCJD. Some individuals who have developed vCJD are known to have eaten potentially BSE-infected meat products. Researchers concluded that the most likely origin of this new disease was human exposure to the BSE agent. Like BSE in cattle, vCJD is always fatal in people.
