July 2008 Mad Cow News

A new form of dementia has been discovered and it acts like an atypical form of BSE. 10 people have already died.

A new form of fatal dementia has been discovered in 16 Americans, 10 of whom have already died of the condition. It resembles Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - with patients gradually losing their ability to think, speak and move - but has features that make it distinct from known forms of CJD.
No one yet knows how the disease originates, or under what conditions it might spread. Nor is it clear how many people have the condition. "I believe the disease has been around for many years, unnoticed," says Pierluigi Gambetti, director of the US National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Cases may previously have been mistaken for other forms of dementia. Eureka Alert Link

Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease is similar to mad cow disease but the authorities are certain that a Cape Cod death is not from eating beef. I, however, remain skeptical.

An elderly patient on Cape Cod has tested positive for a rare brain ailment called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, state public health officials announced this afternoon.
Each year in Massachusetts, six or seven people are diagnosed with the degenerative disorder, which in most cases leads to rapid death. Boston Globe Link

The first shipment of US beef after 5 years is shipped to Korea.

A shipment of US ribs arrived in South Korea on Tuesday for the first time in nearly five years under a new import deal which has sparked weeks of massive street protests here. AFP Link