Another Mad Cow Victim?

Photo: AP Photo / Morry Gash

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Though the FDA has taken steps to prevent mad cow disease from entering the food chain, there have been three confirmed cases of cattle with the illness stateside.

Now, public health officials in Massachusetts have confirmed that a new patient is being tested for the human variant of mad cow disease, and could be the latest victim of the degenerative, fatal disease.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the condition that develops after a person eats meat products contaminated with mad cow, causes spongy holes in the brain.

According to the report, there have only been three cases of the human form of mad cow disease reported in the United States in the last several years, and officials say it's extremely unlikely the patient in Cape Cod Hospital has the disease.

Still, Dr. Alfred DeMaria, the state's director of communicable disease control, told the Associated Press that tests are being done to see if the patient has mad cow disease.

DeMaria says it will take a few more days before the test results are available.

For more information on mad cow disease, you can check out the FDA's website.

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