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.
Mad cow disease - medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE - causes spongy holes in the brain.
Eating meat products contaminated with mad cow disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal human malady.
DeMaria says it will take a few more days before the test results are available. He said there are about a half-dozen cases reported every year in Massachusetts and about 300 nationwide.
A spokesman for Cape Cod Hospital confirmed the facility notified public health officials Thursday of a patient with test results that require reporting. He said hospital officials were told the illness was not contagious and that there was no cause for concern.
