Will Indonesia be affected by mad cow epidemic?

By Mangku Sitepoe

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Post ran a story from Reuters on Jan. 25, 2001, which reported that Indonesia will be the next victim of the mad cow crisis along with Taiwan, Thailand and Sri Lanka which import meat and bonemeal from Britain.

The Asian countries imported meat and bonemeal (MBM) from Britain at the time when the mad cow crisis was at its worst, namely in 1992 when 40,000 cows were infected and in 1993 when 35,000 head of cattle were affected.

Indonesia imported 20,000 tons of MBM in 1993. According to British scientists, the MBM that the Asian countries imported between 1992 and 1993 was made from the carcasses of cows that were killed after they were known to have been infected by the mad cow disease, which has a window period of 1.5 years to eight years. This means that in 2001 Indonesia may be hit by the disease. Is this fear well-founded?

Epidemic

The mad cow (BSE: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) disease was first detected in 1982 in Britain but it became public only in 1986. The disease was triggered by the use of MBM cattle feed made from the carcasses of sheep infected with Scrapie disease.

Then the MBM made from carcasses of mad cow-infected cattle was fed to dairy cow calves, thus altering the cattle's eating pattern from herbivore to carnivore, and even cannibalism! So mad cow began to spread.

In 1988, the disease affected 2,500 cows and the number increased every year with the peak occurring in 1992 and 1993 when up to 40,000 head of cattle caught it. In 1999, 2,514 cases were reported.

The British law on disease control requires that each affected cow has to be killed. The carcasses were not buried but made into MBM powder for cattle feed. This cannibalism has been blamed for the spread of mad cow disease in Britain.

There has been a new regulation which requires that European Union member countries should, as of Jan. 1, 2001, incinerate the carcasses. It also bans proteins made from MBM.

Scientists have concluded that MBM which has components of cattle brain, bone marrow and innards can transmit the disease. It is feared that the disease can also affect humans. So in 1990, Britain issued a regulation on Specified Bovine Offal (SBO), which forbids people from consuming cattle parts which can transmit the disease.

It was only in 1996 that it was officially acknowledged that the disease could also be transmitted to human beings who consumed the affected beef.

British scientists warned that the mad cow disease can affect both cattle and people.

The cause of mad cow is called prion, which was discovered in 1982 by Prusioner B., the 1997 Nobel laureate for medicine.

There has been no scientific proof that cattle can transmit the disease to other animals in the natural way diseases are transmitted. It happens only through human interference through MBM.

There was a report that a cat caught mad cow after consuming beef tainted with the disease.

Indonesia makes feed containing MBM for the poultry industry, fish and pigs. Indonesia has not made MBM.

In 1987, there was a shift from fishmeal to MBM in Indonesia because fishmeal was too expensive. This shift was followed by large-scale importation of MBM from various countries, including Britain.

Of the 4.5 million tons of animal feed produced in Indonesia in 1993, 100,000 tons of those contained MBM imported from various countries. The MBM imported from Britain totaled 20,000 tons.

Because all the imported animal feed is for poultry, aqua- culture and pigs, the British scientists' fear that Indonesia would be the next mad cow victims should not cause concern.

What concerns me is the provision of chicken meat and chicken feathers to chickens and so is the provision of fishmeal to fish. These practices mean cannibalism which can trigger a variety of diseases like mad cow.

Cannibalism among humans has been known to cause a disease called kuru. Like mad cow, kuru is caused by prion.

The possible impact of cannibalism on health has prompted the European Union to ban export of feed made from animals.

Transmission of mad cow to humans

On March 20, 1996, the British government publicly announced that BSE had links with a new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob (nvCJD), which is also caused by prion, affecting humans.

The hypothesis is that the person may catch Creutzfeldt-Jacob after consuming BSE-tainted beef. Certain animal parts, such as brain, bone marrow, internal organs and glands are particularly dangerous.

In 1996, the nvCJD morbidity rate in Britain was 1:3.5 million (1 incidence per 3.5 million population). Although the incidence is very low, precautionary measures require maximum attention.

The beef consumption pattern in Indonesia allows the spread of BSE from cattle to humans. In Indonesia, all parts of the cattle are consumed: brains are made into gulai otak, bone becomes sop buntut soup, tripe (lining of a cow's stomach) serve as soto babat and so forth.

Indonesians, or anyone, from Britain where they have the "Indonesian consumption pattern" may catch BSE and spread it when they are back home.

Indonesia imports beef imported from Ireland without the bones. The authorities should do everything to make sure that no cattle innards also come to Indonesia.

The writer is a Jakarta-based veterinarian and author of the book Sapi Gila (mad cow).