BMJ 1996;312:843-844 (30 March)

Letters

Incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy is higher in cows born after feed ban

EDITOR,--R W Lacey could have made more of the data on the ages of cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy that he discusses.1 The ban on the inclusion of recycled animal remains in agricultural feeds came into force in July 1988. Many calves born before this date might be expected eventually to develop the disease; those born later should have a greatly reduced, and diminishing, incidence of the disease. In his table Lacey compares two sets of data. The second column breaks down by age the numbers of cattle that were born before the ban in which the disease was diagnosed in 1989. The third column shows the breakdown for cattle that were born after the ban in which the disease was diagnosed in 1990-5. Assuming that each column gives a fair representation of the age structure for the development of the disease, Lacey infers that this structure has changed little . . . [Full text of this article]


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