Human Mad Cow May Be More Widespread

[illuminati]

LONDON - Scientists have found evidence suggesting that the human form of mad cow disease might be infecting a wider group of people than seen so far and that some may develop a milder form of the illness.

Since variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (news - web sites) was first identified in 1996, little has been learned about it. Until now, the fatal brain-wasting disease was found only in people who have a certain genetic profile.

But research published this week in The Lancet medical journal reported the infection in a person with a more common genetic makeup and with no symptoms of the illness.

That means more people than previously believed could be incubating the disease, thought to come from eating processed beef products from cattle infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It also raises the possibility that some people may get only a mild infection, as opposed to the fatal disease.

Scientists don't know how many people are infected with the human form of mad cow disease. Projections vary wildly ” from just 10 more cases in the future to hundreds of thousands ” because so many factors that play into the disease remain a mystery and because there have been so few cases to study.

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[Bill Sikes]

vCJD timebomb' fears discounted - High numbers of future deaths in the UK from the human form of mad cow disease are unlikely, researchers have said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4162749.stm