If subsequent tests prove the animal had the disease, it would mark the second time mad cow has been confirmed in a goat. Last month, officials reported a case of mad cow in a French goat that was killed in 2002, BBC News reported.

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But the European Commission stressed that precautionary measures put in place in recent years to protect the human food chain from contaminated meats mean there's no need for alarm, the news service said.

Mad cow disease was first diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986 and was transmitted to cattle through feed that included ground-up parts of infected animals. An epidemic of the disease struck British cattle in the early 1990s, resulting in the slaughter of millions of animals.

More than 100 people in Britain have died from vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease), the human form of mad cow, after eating tainted beef, the BBC said. – (HealthDayNews)
 

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