>>15 WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland detected its first case of mad cow disease near the southern border with Slovakia on Saturday, but the country's chief veterinarian called it an isolated incident.
Poland had been considered a "low-risk" country for mad cow, which is believed to cause the human brain-wasting disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which has killed more than 100 people in western Europe, mainly Britain.
Poland, an exporter of beef to the European Union and Eastern Europe's largest farm economy, checks all cattle older than 30 months for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy(BSE), before slaughter.
But the European Commission wrote in a report in February that it was concerned about the ability of Poland, expected to join the EU in less than two years, to detect BSE and contain the disease from spreading if an outbreak occurred.
"There is no cause for panic because after tests were conducted, the (infected) cow was isolated and, along with others from the herd, taken off the market. So consumers are safe," chief veterinarian Piotr Kolodziej told private Radio Zet.
"BSE is not like (the fast-spreading virus) Ebola or foot-and-mouth disease. So if it's under control, and it is under control in Poland...I think the EU will also approach this situation properly and conclude that things are being handled correctly, " Kolodziej said. Kolodziej said the infected nine-year-old cow -- found in a slaughterhouse in the village of Mochnaczka Wyzna just 6 miles from the Slovak border -- was the first positive BSE test result in more than 100,000 checks throughout Poland.
Interior Minister Krzysztof Janik said police and veterinary services were investigating the source of the disease, which usually originates from bone-meal-based feed.
"Last night the case was confirmed and from this morning police and vet services have been mobilized to track down the source of the disease," Janik told public television.
PAP news agency reported that the slaughterhouse where the contaminated cow was found had been disinfected Saturday.
"The remains of the BSE-infected cow and three other carcasses will be destroyed by veterinary inspectors in accordance with accepted procedures," the head veterinarian of the southern Malopolska region told PAP.