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Incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Likely to Rise, Scientist Warns

Deaths from the human form of "mad cow" disease could be rising by up to 30 percent a year, warned British epidemiologist Peter Smith on Tuesday. Scientists believe that people contract new varient Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) by eating beef that has been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). BSE has been linked to the practice of feeding ruminants to ruminants. CJD can only be confirmed in a post-mortem examination of the brain of the victim.

Smith told the BBC that incidence of CJD had been fairly consisitent, with 10 to 15 deaths a year, but there has recently been an increase of 20 to 30 percent a year.

"We have just seen analyses showing that the trend upward now is formally statistically significant and is unlikely to be due to chance," said Smith, who is also a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Because of the long incubation phase of CJD, Smith added that: "We don't know how this epidemic is going to evolve over time."

		July 18, 2000

		Incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Likely to Rise, Scientist Warns Deaths from the human form of "mad cow" disease could be rising by up to 30 percent a year, warned British epidemiologist Peter Smith on Tuesday. Scientists believe that people contract new varient Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) by eating beef that has been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). BSE has been linked to the practice of feeding ruminants to ruminants. CJD can only be confirmed in a post-mortem examination of the brain of the victim. Smith told the BBC that incidence of CJD had been fairly consisitent, with 10 to 15 deaths a year, but there has recently been an increase of 20 to 30 percent a year. "We have just seen analyses showing that the trend upward now is formally statistically significant and is unlikely to be due to chance," said Smith, who is also a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Because of the long incubation phase of CJD, Smith added that: "We don't know how this epidemic is going to evolve over time."