Until now all known cases of BSE and the brain-wasting human variant vCJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), have been reported in Europe, or in cattle imported from Europe.

But the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Friday said all countries which had imported cattle or meat and bone meal (MBM) from western Europe - especially Britain - since the 1980s, could be considered at risk.

The Middle East, eastern Europe, North Africa and India were pinpointed as the highest risk.

And it urged governments to take steps to prevent the disease reaching humans throughout the world.

A worker at a slaughterhouse put lids on containers full of pieces of dead cows painted blue to identify that they are to be incinerated, in Souses about 220 kilometers (136 miles) south of Lisbon, Portugal, Thursday Jan. 25, 2001. Portugal on Thursday begans slaughtering some 50,000 cattle as part of an effort to purge herds of mad cow disease. (AP Photo/Gael Cornier)

It said in a statement: "There is an increasingly grave situation developing in the European Union, with BSE being identified in cattle in several member-states of the EU which have, until recently, been regarded as free from the disease."

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) first appeared in 1984 in a cow in Britain that was thought to have eaten feed that included offal from sheep that harboured scrapie, a similar illness.

Since then it has spread across much of Europe.

US quarantine

In the UK, more than 170,000 cattle have been diagnosed with BSE and about 1,300 in Belgium, Denmark, France, the Republic of Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.

Germany and Spain reported their first native cases of BSE last year and Italy reported its first domestic case last week.

Small numbers of cases have also been reported in Canada, the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Italy and Oman, but solely in animals imported from the UK.

More than 80 people in Europe have died from vCJD.

In Germany, where Mad Cow Disease has led to the resignation of two ministers over their handling of the crisis, health officials on Friday lowered the age for testing slaughtered cattle for BSE from 30 to 24 months.

Germany may have to slaughter about 300,000 cows this year to guarantee herds are healthy as it works to restore consumer confidence in meat.

In Texas, USA, about 1,000 cattle are being quarantined while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determines if they ate animal feed from a mill that may have violated rules designed to prevent BSE.

Australia tests

A recent FDA report found that hundreds of feed makers were violating labelling requirements and other rules associated with the ban.

Australia has extended its tests for BSE to dairy and other products from European countries as part of efforts to remain free of the disease.

But the Japanese Agriculture Ministry said a BSE outbreak was unlikely as the country had taken sufficient preventive measures.

"We have taken preventive measures since 1990 and we have had no reports of the disease in Japan to date.

"It is quite unlikely that the disease will spread to Japan in the future."

Officials in Indonesia and Thailand, two other countries pinpointed by scientists as at risk, ruled out any threat from the disease, saying they sourced their feed and beef from countries free of the disease.

Indian experts in Delhi expressed little immediate concern over the disease though the country has an immense cattle population.

Cows are considered sacred and are protected by Hindus who do not eat beef.

Copyright 2001 BBC

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