Diseases
Spain reports two deaths from human variant of mad cow disease
By Ben Wasserman
Apr 7, 2008 - 12:42:51 PM

MONDAY April 7, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Officials announced Monday that two people in Spain have died from the human variant of mad cow disease, The Associated Press reported.

The victims, 40 and 51, of the central Castilla-Leon region, died in December and in February, Jose Javier Castrodeza, director of public health at the regional government was cited as saying.

Until now, Spain's only reported fatality from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or vCJD was a 26-year-old woman in Madrid who died in 2005.

The Castilla-Leon regional agriculture minister, Silvia Clemente was cited as saying the disease might strike these two people prior to 2001 when strengthened health controls on livestock and meat production were introduced.

Scientists have no doubt now that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by eating beef from cows that have been infected with mad cow disease because this disease is not found in countries where no mad cow disease is reported.

But officials said Monday it is safe to eat beef in Spain.

Mad cow disease was first reported in Britain in the mid-1980s.  A total of more than 150 cases of the cattle disease have been reported.  

Spreading of the disease among cattle is believed to be caused by using meat and bone meal from infected cows into cattle feed, a practice that has been banned in some countries.

In Spain, according to the AP, a total of more than 700 cases of mad cow disease have been reported since 2000.

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease kills people at a mean age of 28 years.  The duration of the illness is on average 14 months.

The disease causes psychiatric symptoms such as depression or less often, a schizophrenia-like psychosis.  A series of neurological signs will follow as the illness progresses including unsteadiness, difficulty walking and involuntary movements. By the time of death, the victims become completely immobile and mute.

The disease is more common than most people would think.  Studies estimated that in Britain alone more than 3000 people may carry the disease without knowing it.

And an unsubstantiated source claimed that eating tainted beef could cause a number of forms of brain diseases including variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

By November 2002, 129 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease had been reported in the UK, six in France and one each in Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States of America.