Mad cow test turns up negative

WASHINGTON – A cow suspected of having mad cow disease has tested negative for the brain-wasting ailment, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday.

Testing by the department’s laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and the internationally recognized laboratory in Weybridge, England, came back negative, said John Clifford, the department’s chief veterinarian.

“Needless to say, we are very pleased with these results,” Clifford said in a statement. “I do want to emphasize that the most important protections for human and animal health are our interlocking food-safety protocols.”

The department ordered additional testing after initial results indicated the disease may have been present in the cow. Officials called those results “non-definitive” and said they didn’t resemble normal samples in which mad cow disease is present.

The animal had complications while giving birth and died on the farm where it had lived. Officials have not said where the farm was. The cow was burned and buried after a local veterinarian removed brain tissue for testing. The cow died in April, but the veterinarian forgot to send in the sample until last month.

There have been two confirmed cases of mad cow disease in the United States. A Texas cow tested positive in June, and a Canadian-born cow in Mabton, Wash., tested positive in December 2003.