TOKYO, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Japan's health ministry confirmed on Wednesday that a dairy cow raised in western Japan has been tested positive for mad cow disease.

    The 6-year-old female Holstein, raised at a farm in Nagi, Okayama Prefecture, showed typical symptom of BSE, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and is the 25th such case in Japan.

    A meat inspection institution in Okayama Prefecture discovered the infection in an earlier preliminary blanket test, and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases confirmed the case in further testing, Kyodo News said.

    The cow was born in April 2000, before the 2001 implementation of a ban on meat-and-bone meal suspected of being a cause of the disease, according to local media. Enditem