CJD victim total rises to 29

06 October 1998

CJD victim total rises to 29

TWO people died in August from the human form of mad cow disease, according to the Department of Health.

Monthly figures just published reveal that so far this year six people have died from new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD), bringing the total to 29 since 1995.

The disease is likely to be caused by eating food infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

But scientists say the long incubation period associated with nvCJD and the impossibility of detecting infections means it is still too early to say how many people will eventually succumb.

• CJD kills four this year, FWi, 4 August, 1998
• 
  The Independent 06/10/98 page 4 (In Brief)
  
• Financial Times 06/10/98 page 19 (News Digest)