- Jeff...
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- First comes BSE, then nvCJD. Japan's nvCJD case was
no surprise after finding BSE in cattle over the past few years. I am
sure that there are more cases to be reported in the near future.
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- Patty
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- [1]
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- Date: Fri 4 Feb 2005
- From: Akira Goto
Source: Kyodo News on the web, Fri 4 Feb 2005 http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/display.jsp?an=20050204911
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- Japan: 1st Japanese Case of Human Variant of Mad Cow
Disease
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- The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare stated on Fri
4 Feb 2004 that it has confirmed Japan's first case of the human variant
of mad cow disease [variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - abbreviated as
CJD (new var.) or vCJD in ProMED-mail]. The patient, who is already dead,
was in Britain for about a month around 1990, the Ministry stated. About
150 people have died due to the disease in Britain.
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- [2] Date: Fri 4 Feb 2005 From: ProMED-mail Source: Reuters
report, Fri 4 Feb 2005
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- Japan - 1st Death From Human Mad Cow Disease
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- By George Nishiyama and Isabel Reynolds 2-4-5
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- (Reuters) -- Japan confirmed on Fri 4 Feb 2005 its 1st
case of the human variant of mad cow disease [variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease(vCJD)], a fatal brain disease thought to be contracted by eating
infected beef. The Health Ministry said that a Japanese man had died last
December [2004] from vCJD, adding that he probably contracted the fatal
illness during a month-long stay in Britain in 1989.
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- "I know that this will make many people worry, but
we must take note of the fact that his stay was only one month," Tetsuyuki
Kitamoto, a Tohoku University professor and Head of the Ministry panel
on the disease, told a news conference.
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- More than 160 people, most of them in Britain, have died
worldwide from definitive or probable vCJD after eating meat contaminated
with mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE). Britain has been the worst hit by BSE, which is thought to be transmitted
among animals via feed containing bovine brains or spinal cord. Around
7 million animals had been slaughtered in Britain by the end of June 2004
under a scheme aimed at preventing the spread of the infection.
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- Japan has reported 14 cases of BSE and began testing
all its cattle for the disease after the first case in September 2001.
It also banned imports of Canadian beef in May 2003 and of U.S. beef in
December 2003 after cases of BSE were found in those countries, and is
in drawn-out talks on when to lift the ban.
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- Cases of vCJD have also been reported in France, Canada,
Ireland, Italy, the United States and China [Hong Kong S.A.R.], Health
Ministry officials said. In all cases outside of Europe, victims are believed
to have contracted the disease during stays in Britain, but a one month
period would be the shortest stay reported so far, the experts on the health
ministry panel said.
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- The Japanese man, who was in his 40s when he first showed
symptoms of the disease in December 2001, had no record of blood transfusions
or brain surgery -- other ways in which the disease could be transmitted.
The Health Ministry sought to calm any fears among the Japanese public,
issuing a statement saying that the disease is not transmitted among humans
under regular living conditions. Doctors on the panel said people could
consult physicians, but added that at present, there was no way to determine
whether a person would show symptoms or to stop the progress of the disease.
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- Scientists estimate the incubation period for vCJD as
10 to 20 years.
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- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
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- Some aspects of this first case of vCJD in Japan are
intriguing. The age of the patient, who is older than the majority of cases
of vCJD. The brevity of the period of exposure to infection, if infection
is assumed to have occurred during the one month sojourn in Britain. The
improbability of infection having occurred in Japan where only a very few
cases of BSE have been recognised. As an atypical prion has been associated
with some cases of BSE investigated in Japan, it may be possible to establish
conclusively where the exposure to infection occurred. - Mod.CP
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- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
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