New BSE-like disease found in cheetah

A cheetah at a zoo in Nuremberg has died after contracting an illness similar to mad cow disease, becoming the first confirmed case in Germany of feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), city authorities said today.

Lulu, a female cheetah born in 1998, had suffered for six weeks from problems that included trouble balancing and weakness in her hind legs, the Nuremberg city government said in a statement.