nvCJD Advisor Warns Of Up To 350 Additional Possible Deaths - Impact Wider Than Thought

[hatrack]

Scientists were warning today of a possible new wave of deaths from the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) amid fears the disease might have taken hold in a wider range of the population than had first appeared. Chris Higgins , head of the group that advises the government on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), suggested up to 350 people might die if it emerged that the long-incubating illness appeared to have infected a patient with a different gene type from previous British victims.

The first wave of infections almost certainly came from eating infected beef products after BSE struck cattle in the 1980s, although three of the 164 people who have died from the human disease since 1995 are thought to have contracted the disease from contaminated blood transfusions donated by people who were unwittingly carrying the disease.

The first wave of deaths peaked at 28 in 2000, and only one person has died from the disease this year. But Higgins, chairman of the spongiform encephalopathy advisory committee (SEAC), said that if another patient with the disease was found to have the different gene type, more could die. All the people with vCJD so far have belonged to a gene type known as MM. People inherit either an M or V gene from each of their parents, which probably determines their vulnerability to the disease and the length of time it takes to develop. The MM gene group makes up 37% of the population, while those with one of each, MVs, are thought to be more resistant and make up 51% of Britons.

Scientists have long warned that a second wave of the disease was possible because of this. These views were strengthened when a person with the MV gene configuration who died from other causes a few years ago was found to have the infective agent linked to vCJD in their spleen.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/18/bse-vcjd-victims