Two die in Spain from human variant of mad cow disease

[flashl]

MADRID, Spain — Two people in Spain have died of the human variant of mad cow disease, in the first such fatalities since 2005, officials said Monday.

The victims were aged 40 and 51 and lived in the central Castilla-Leon region. One died in December and the other in February, said Jose Javier Castrodeza, director of public health at the regional government.

Until now Spain's only fatality from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease came in 2005 with the death of a 26-year-old woman in Madrid.

Officials appealed Monday for calm and insisted it is safe to eat beef in Spain.

The Castilla-Leon regional agriculture minister, Silvia Clemente, said the two new victims apparently contracted the disease prior to 2001 and health controls on livestock and meat production are much tighter now than they were then.

USA Today

[fed-up]

1. I am sure they mean the first diagnosed fatalities in three years-don't look/don't find nt