There were five new cases of BSE disclosed in the State this week.
They were in counties Cork, Cavan, Donegal, Kildare and Kerry. This brings the total number of BSE cases for 2002 to 109.
Of the five cases disclosed this week none have been identified by means of traditional passive surveillance. They were all identified under the increased active surveillance programme whereby in July 2000 testing of all casualty and fallen cattle was initiated and since January 2001 all cattle over 30 months are tested.
Almost 630,000 tests were carried out in 2001 and over 154,000 tests have been carried out so far this year.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the age profile of the BSE cases continues to show that the additional control measures, which were introduced in 1996 and 1997, are proving effective.
"The underlying trend in relation to the number of BSE cases disclosed remains favourable," it said in a statement. "The number of cases disclosed to date should be considered in the context of a total cattle population of 7.6 million," it said.
To date no animals born after 1996 have been detected with BSE and an ever increasing proportion of infected animals are six years of age or older.
The Department pointed out that specified risk material is removed from all cattle slaughtered.
