Brail’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock confirmed Thursday (Mar. 2) that the case of mad cow disease discovered in the municipality of Marabá, Pará state is atypical (atypical type H), in other words, without risk of transmission. This possibility was already expected by the ministry.

Image/Robert Herriman

The atypical form of bovine spongiform encephalitis occurs in older animals, spontaneously by nature, instead of being transmitted in the classical way, by the ingestion of contaminated feed.

“Since this is an atypical case, that is to say, it occurred by natural causes in a single 9-year-old animal and all the sanitary measures were promptly taken, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is immediately adopting measures, according to the sanitary protocols, so that the Brazilian beef exports are reestablished as soon as possible,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock said in a statement.

The last cases of mad cow registered in Brazil occurred in 2021, in Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso.