May 16, 2001
		Scientists Warn of "Second Wave" of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease While countries around the world struggle to protect themselves against the deadly Mad Cow Disease and its human counterpart, future variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD), a new study brings more bad news. nvCJD has killed more than 100 people, mostly in Great Britain. Now, British scientists have warned of that the estimated size of the nvCJD epidemic may have been underestimated and that a “second wave” of cases will emerge in the coming years. Research has suggested that only those with the shortest incubation periods for the disease have displayed symptoms, and this could mean that confirmed current cases are only the tip of the iceberg. This latest discovery runs counter to the theory that those who contract nvCJD from contaminated meat are more genetically disposed. “Those patients we have seen so far with nvCJD may be those genetically disposed to have the shortest incubation periods,” said John Collinge, director of the Medical Research Council Prion Unit in London. All nvCJD patients identified so far have had one of three types of genetic variation shared with about 40 percent of Caucasian Britons. Current estimates have assumed that only those with this particular genetic make-up will be vulnerable to this disease if they eat contaminated meat. Professor Collinge, however, disagrees with this theory, warning that predictions based on this belief may be “overly optimistic”. “This study reminds us that we cannot be complacent about the potential risks to public health posed by [bovine spongiform encephalopathy],” said Collinge. “We cannot rule out an epidemic that evolves over decades.”