Independent test by a British veterinary laboratory confirmed that the United States has its first case of mad cow disease, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Thursday.

US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced on Tuesday that a single cow in the state of Washington was suspected of getting mad cow disease, which is formerly known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Samples from the cow, slaughtered on Dec. 9, were then sent to Britain for further confirmation.

"The test samples were received at the laboratory in Waybridge, England early Christmas morning," the USDA said Thursday in a statement.

"The UK veterinary pathologists concur with our interpretation of the Dec. 22 positive test conducted by USDA pathologists at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa," it added.

USDA chief veterinarian Ron. De Haven "considers this concurrence to be confirmatory of our finding of a positive BSE case," the statement said.

The British lab will conduct a series of additional confirmatory tests and "we anticipate they will be consistent with the earlier findings," the USDA said in the statement.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2003)