September 13, 2001
		Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Is On the Rise British scientists say there has been an increasing incidence in cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease. The incurable disease has already claimed the lives of more than 100 people in Great Britain, and it's been reported that its incidence increased by 20 percent last year. According to Department of Health figures, this year there have been 15 confirmed cases. Professor James Ironside, an expert at the vCJD Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University, told the British Broadcasting Corporation radio, "Moving form a flat pattern, we're now seeing an upward change. This is a sustained pattern. We've had blips... this is not a blip." Experts explained that it has been very difficult to predict how many people have been infected with the disease. Ironside said, "Because of uncertainties associated with the disease, the unknown incubation period, genetic factors that are probably associated with different susceptibility -- it makes modeling the future very difficult."