Protocol for BSE Rapid Testing

August 6, 2004 -- Dr. John Clifford, U.S. Department of Agriculture?s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service?s (APHIS) chief veterinarian, issued a statement this week that before APHIS announces an inconclusive BSE test result, they ?will now wait until the duplicate or second-run tests are conducted before declaring a test sample inconclusive.?

This announcement follows a 60-day review of the testing procedures which indicated a level of confidence that all of the BSE labs are proficient in running the samples.

Since APHIS began its enhanced BSE surveillance program on June 1, 2004, 28,000 samples have been conducted. To date, two samples were declared inconclusive for BSE, but were proven to be negative for the disease in subsequent tests.

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