[sht] First case of mad cow in person here in the US

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They think the lady caught it in England, but who knows. Something to watch out for...

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First U.S. Resident Diagnosed With Mad Cow

Officials Believe 22-Year-Old Was Infected in Britain

April 18 — What is believed to be the first case of mad cow disease in a resident of the United States has been diagnosed in a 22-year-old British citizen living in Florida, state and federal officials said today. The Florida Department of Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the likely case of the form of mad cow disease that infects humans, called "new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease."

The diagnosis of the brain-destroying illness was made at a hospital in England, and the woman has since returned to the United States with her family, the CDC said this evening.

The victim, who was raised in England and recently moved to the United States, is believed to have contracted the disease in England at the peak of the mad cow outbreak there, said the CDC's Dr. Steve Ostroff.

"There's every reason to suspect that she acquired her illness there," he said.

'No Threat to Anyone Else'

There is no reason to fear cattle in the United States have the cow version of the illness, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, officials with the Florida Department of Health said.

"All evidence indicates her illness poses no threat to anyone else or the agriculture industry," state Department of Health spokesman Bill Parizek said.

The only way to confirm the diagnosis is through a brain biopsy or in an autopsy.

New variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob is a rare, degenerative, fatal brain disorder that emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s, and has spread around Europe, doubling every 3 1/2 years. As of the start of this month, 125 cases had been confirmed, including 117 in England, six in France, and one each in Ireland and Italy, the CDC said.

The standard form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is more common, and is already known in the United States.

The CDC said there is no evidence that the vCJD has ever been transmitted from person to person. It is believed to spread from eating cattle products contaminated with the agent that causes it.

No case of this disease has ever been identified in the United States by the Department of Agriculture, which tested 5,200 cattle brains last year and plans to test 12,500 this year.

Officials declined to comment on the condition of the infected woman, citing her privacy, but said she had not yet reached the end-stage of the disease, for which there is no known cure.

The outbreak in England devastated the country's cattle industry.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2002

Answers

Is it just me or does it seem like Florida is in the news a lot?

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2002

And your alibi would be what, Barefoot??

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2002

Just don't feast on any of the woman's flesh that's been in contact with her spinal cord or brain and you should be okay.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2002

Um, er, how about, "Rock a bye baby, on the tree top..."

And thanks Git, that suggestion is going to be real helpful.

LOL

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2002


On a serious note, I was very grateful to discover that is was found in a human not a cow!!! Not that I have no compassion for the human, but we sure don't need what happened in Britain here!!!

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2002


Diane, I was under the impression that Mad Cow has been here for quite some time. For instance, in rapid onset Alzheimer's (not something you would autopsy for, and if you suspected CJDv, you wouldn't want to contaminated your autopsy equipment to do it). One of the tricks has been to place a different name on the disease for each species, but I recall reading that it was pretty easy to produce the disease in quite a number of different species.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2002

So Brook, are you saying that we should have had piles of dead animals burning a while back?? I am not sure what you are saying.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2002

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