PARIS (AP)
_ Two new cases of so-called mad cow disease have been discovered
in northwestern France, local officials said, raising the total
number of cases detected in the country this year to 40. The two
animals found to be infected were born in 1994 and 1995. French
law requires that the animals and the herds they belong to be
slaughtered and incinerated. French authorities last year discovered
31 cases of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The disease is believed to cause a similar brain-wasting ailment
in humans known as Creutzfeld-Jacob disease. New cases of the
disease are expected to break out in France until 2002, five years
after authorities took rigorous measures to prevent more outbreaks.
The disease has an average incubation period of five years.
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