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American Morning
Case of Mad Cow Disease Confirmed in Canada
Aired May 21, 2003 - 07:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIE CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Many American consumers this morning may be wondering whether their meat is safe to eat. As you know, the U.S. has banned Canadian beef products after the first case of mad cow disease in a decade has been found in Canada.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to address those concerns.
Thanks for joining us.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, well, it is a concern. I mean, you know, there hasn't been a case of mad cow in Canada since 1993, but certainly a case now confirmed in Alberta.
The story goes like this. In January actually is when this cow started to get sick, and meaning sick, this cow sort of showed some symptoms, started stumbling around, symptoms that the central nervous system was somehow affected, an early precursor of mad cow disease. Subsequently, it took this long now, just yesterday when the tests came back confirming this.
So that one case, one cow of mad cow disease in Canada, that's all that's been confirmed yet. Yet, the entire herd of 149 additional cows has now been isolated.
The big key here, though, is that everyone is saying -- the Canadian health officials, the Department of Agriculture sector here -- that that food from the cow did not get into the food chain, so there is probably no risk of getting mad cow -- the variant of mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. The name is not that important. But that variant in humans is probably very unlikely.
CHOI: Still, it is a concern. So, if I go to the market today and I want to buy some beef, how do I know where it came from?
GUPTA: Well, you really don't. You don't know where it came from. You probably know where it didn't come from, because the United States -- the Department of Agriculture has some specific rules on where the beef comes from. It can't come from England. Everyone knows that mad cow disease hit them pretty hard in the late '80s, or from 21 other countries that are still considered mad cow positive countries, countries that have had significant cases of mad cow disease. Canada is now on the list, although probably going to be just temporary.
So, bottom line, you don't know where the meat came from for sure, but you do know that it probably did not come from one of these countries.
Canada, incidentally, about 4 to 5 percent of the overall beef supply to the United States, so it's going to be a rather significant decrease in the beef supply, especially as Memorial Day weekend is coming up just around the corner.
CHOI: Yes, that's true. So, bottom line, how worried should people be that mad cow will actually affect their health?
GUPTA: There are very good surveillance systems in place. Three things to sort of keep in mind. One is that people believe that mad cow disease actually comes from contaminated feed. The feed that gets in the United States is not imported from countries that have mad cow disease, No. 1. No. 2, the meat itself, the beef itself, again, not imported from countries that have mad cow disease. And finally, the surveillance systems have increased significantly. Everyone remembers the images of 3.7 million cows being slaughtered just several years ago in England. Well, that situation has never happened in the United States. There has never been a case of the mad cow disease in the United States. Certainly very close now in Alberta. But, again, it's very unlikely that that beef ever got into the food supply.
And you know, they jumped on this pretty quick. You know, SARS -- Canada just had a couple of infectious disease things, now with SARS and now with mad cow disease now, but in both cases have really acted very quickly to contain these things.
CHOI: So, let's just say if you do come down with an illness from eating infected meat, how long is the incubation period? How soon would you know that you might be ill?
GUPTA: That's a good question, because this is what makes it a bit of an investigative challenge. It could be two to eight years in cows, even longer sometimes in human beings, before you get sick. As you can imagine, going back and trying to trace what you ate that long ago is nearly impossible, certainly for cows, as well as humans.
It could be quite a while before you manifest any of the symptoms, again, of this disease in humans called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. That's a variant of this and it's caused by this sort of strange organism called a pryon (ph). Again, it affects your nervous system, as you can see there. Very rare, one per one million every year, so only about 100 people infected worldwide over the last 15 years. So a very rare disease.
And I think it's worth talking about that this case has occurred in Canada. I think it's worth talking about, because it alerts everybody about what mad cow disease, what Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is. But the likelihood that this is going to affect you or me or anybody else grilling burgers this weekend on Memorial Day very, very, very, very low. I wouldn't worry about it.
CHOI: OK. Well, we'll continue our discussion a bit later.
GUPTA: All right.
CHOI: But for now, thanks.
GUPTA: Glad to be here. Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired May 21, 2003 - 07:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIE CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Many American consumers this morning may be wondering whether their meat is safe to eat. As you know, the U.S. has banned Canadian beef products after the first case of mad cow disease in a decade has been found in Canada.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to address those concerns.
Thanks for joining us.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, well, it is a concern. I mean, you know, there hasn't been a case of mad cow in Canada since 1993, but certainly a case now confirmed in Alberta.
The story goes like this. In January actually is when this cow started to get sick, and meaning sick, this cow sort of showed some symptoms, started stumbling around, symptoms that the central nervous system was somehow affected, an early precursor of mad cow disease. Subsequently, it took this long now, just yesterday when the tests came back confirming this.
So that one case, one cow of mad cow disease in Canada, that's all that's been confirmed yet. Yet, the entire herd of 149 additional cows has now been isolated.
The big key here, though, is that everyone is saying -- the Canadian health officials, the Department of Agriculture sector here -- that that food from the cow did not get into the food chain, so there is probably no risk of getting mad cow -- the variant of mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. The name is not that important. But that variant in humans is probably very unlikely.
CHOI: Still, it is a concern. So, if I go to the market today and I want to buy some beef, how do I know where it came from?
GUPTA: Well, you really don't. You don't know where it came from. You probably know where it didn't come from, because the United States -- the Department of Agriculture has some specific rules on where the beef comes from. It can't come from England. Everyone knows that mad cow disease hit them pretty hard in the late '80s, or from 21 other countries that are still considered mad cow positive countries, countries that have had significant cases of mad cow disease. Canada is now on the list, although probably going to be just temporary.
So, bottom line, you don't know where the meat came from for sure, but you do know that it probably did not come from one of these countries.
Canada, incidentally, about 4 to 5 percent of the overall beef supply to the United States, so it's going to be a rather significant decrease in the beef supply, especially as Memorial Day weekend is coming up just around the corner.
CHOI: Yes, that's true. So, bottom line, how worried should people be that mad cow will actually affect their health?
GUPTA: There are very good surveillance systems in place. Three things to sort of keep in mind. One is that people believe that mad cow disease actually comes from contaminated feed. The feed that gets in the United States is not imported from countries that have mad cow disease, No. 1. No. 2, the meat itself, the beef itself, again, not imported from countries that have mad cow disease. And finally, the surveillance systems have increased significantly. Everyone remembers the images of 3.7 million cows being slaughtered just several years ago in England. Well, that situation has never happened in the United States. There has never been a case of the mad cow disease in the United States. Certainly very close now in Alberta. But, again, it's very unlikely that that beef ever got into the food supply.
And you know, they jumped on this pretty quick. You know, SARS -- Canada just had a couple of infectious disease things, now with SARS and now with mad cow disease now, but in both cases have really acted very quickly to contain these things.
CHOI: So, let's just say if you do come down with an illness from eating infected meat, how long is the incubation period? How soon would you know that you might be ill?
GUPTA: That's a good question, because this is what makes it a bit of an investigative challenge. It could be two to eight years in cows, even longer sometimes in human beings, before you get sick. As you can imagine, going back and trying to trace what you ate that long ago is nearly impossible, certainly for cows, as well as humans.
It could be quite a while before you manifest any of the symptoms, again, of this disease in humans called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. That's a variant of this and it's caused by this sort of strange organism called a pryon (ph). Again, it affects your nervous system, as you can see there. Very rare, one per one million every year, so only about 100 people infected worldwide over the last 15 years. So a very rare disease.
And I think it's worth talking about that this case has occurred in Canada. I think it's worth talking about, because it alerts everybody about what mad cow disease, what Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is. But the likelihood that this is going to affect you or me or anybody else grilling burgers this weekend on Memorial Day very, very, very, very low. I wouldn't worry about it.
CHOI: OK. Well, we'll continue our discussion a bit later.
GUPTA: All right.
CHOI: But for now, thanks.
GUPTA: Glad to be here. Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
