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Mad Cow Case Confirmed in California

But health officials say it poses little threat to the public.

By Ankita Rao | Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2012, at 10:32 AM ET

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South Korea removed the U.S. beef from some store shelves
Photograph by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images.

Authorities confirmed the fourth ever case of mad cow disease in the United States on Tuesday after an infected cow died on a farm in California.

CNN reports that health officials say the risk to the public is very low, and that residents do not need to take preventative measures. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly called mad cow, was responsible for 150 deaths in the 1980s and '90s in Britain.

While the announcement prompted a steep drop in live cattle futures on Tuesday, Reuters reports that the market was back into the black one day later. But South Korea, which imports 125,000 tons of U.S. beef, took the product off some store shelves.

The first case of BSE in the United States was discovered in 2003, causing some importers like Japan to pull out of the market. The countries recently reopened to the beef, and traders said the latest case would not affect the market.