Man death in Casablanca not caused by mad cow disease, minister
Morocco, Health, 3/5/2005

Moroccan health minister, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, categorically denied the mad cow disease was the cause of the death of a man who passed away in a casablanca hospital.

Biadillah told on Friday the national TVM channel the first signs show the death of the man was caused by the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, a sporadic type of the illness discovered in 1920. The minister explained there are four types of the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease: the sporadic type, the family type, the Iatrogene type, while the fourth type is a new variant of the disease discovered in 1994 in the United Kingdom.

Biadillah stressed Morocco took all the needed measures to prevent the mad cow disease since it appeared.

The Moroccan agriculture ministry said Thursday no cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), have been reported so far in the cattle.

Morocco has taken preventive measures since 1990 to protect the country from the disease. Following the spread of the Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD), it banned in 2000 the import of beef, livestock and meat products from countries where BSE was declared. It also established a monitoring system to follow up the state of the cattle.

The kingdom lifted the ban on livestock import in 2004.

Previous Stories:
  No cases of BSE in Moroccan cattle, official   (3/4/2005)
  Moroccan may have died of Mad Cow Disease   (3/3/2005)
  Smoking, major cause of death in Morocco, health ministry   (2/26/2005)

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