Second BSE test fails

Thu Nov 18, 2004 03:08 PM ET

By Randy Fabi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States likely has another case of mad cow disease after an animal tested "inconclusive" in two preliminary tests, but a false positive was also possible, experts said on Thursday.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said earlier on Thursday the animal tested "inconclusive" for mad cow disease in two rapid screening tests and that it would conduct more sophisticated analysis for confirmation. All the tests used were from Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO.A: Quote, Profile, Research) .

The USDA said it would use a more sophisticated test, known as the immunohistochemistry test, or IHC, to confirm whether there is a new case of mad cow disease. Test results were expected in four to seven days.

"After two inconclusive results, you have a much higher rate of confirming (mad cow disease) to the IHC test," Brad Crutchfield, vice president of California-based Bio-Rad, told Reuters in an interview.

"The accuracy of our tests is much greater than 95 percent," he added.

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