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Article: Scientists fear BSE link to second type of brain disease
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- November 28, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2002 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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"MAD COW" disease may be causing a second epidemic of brain
illness in humans which has so far gone unrecognised as being related
to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Scientists have found evidence that BSE can cause both the variant
form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and the more common
"sporadic" form of CJD. Until now, the two were thought to be
unrelated.
Experiments on mice have led researchers to believe that the
increase in sporadic CJD seen in Britain and other European countries
might be due at least in part to the consumption of BSE-contaminated
food in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Epidemiologists have dismissed any link between sporadic CJD and
BSE, arguing that the ...