‘Mad Cow’ Disease Suspected in Briton

A 22-year-old British woman living in Florida is believed to have a brain-destroying illness linked to “mad cow” disease, the first known case in the United States, health officials said.

The woman is believed to have caught the fatal disease by eating beef in Britain at the height of that country’s cattle epidemic, said Dr. Steve Ostroff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials wouldn’t give the woman’s whereabouts or her condition.

Officials in Tallahassee said that there is no reason to suspect cattle in the United States have the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. They also said there is no risk to Americans from the human case.