June 22, 2006

Incubation period for human BSE infection could exceed 50 years

A person could possibly be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions for over 50 years before developing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), according to a study on another human prion disease called kuru in this week's issue of The Lancet. The findings suggest that the eventual size of a vCJD epidemic could be much bigger than previously thought, state the authors.
Dietary exposure of the UK population to BSE prions has been widespread. So far, around 160 vCJD patients have been identified in the UK, with cases also reported in France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, and the USA. Predictions of the eventual size of a vCJD epidemic have varied widely; recent estimates, based on the current numbers of VCJD patients, have suggested that the total epidemic may be relatively small. However, the incubation period for BSE in people is key in predicting the true extent of an epidemic, and this has been unknown until now. Medical News Today

June 22, 2006

Dutch report second "mad cow'' human case

Dutch health authorities were cited as saying on Thursday that a second Dutch person has been diagnosed with the human variant of mad cow disease after a woman died from the disease last year Reuters