-Caveat Lector- U.S. Officials Probe Human Mad Cow Disease Case
Fri Apr 19, 2:10 PM ET By Karen Jacobs ATLANTA (Reuters) - Scientists and beef industry officials said on Friday there was no reason for U.S. consumers to be concerned about a report that health authorities were investigating the first suspected case of the human form of mad cow disease in the United States. The Florida Department of Health said it and the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) were studying a likely case of new variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) in a 22-year-old British citizen living in Florida. They said the victim probably contracted the disease overseas. "We're actually very confident that this is a case of imported variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease," said John Agwunobi, secretary for the Florida Department of Health. Britain first detected mad cow in herds in 1986 and was blamed for exporting the disease, which triggered consumer panic in other European countries and forced the destruction of thousands of head of cattle. An outbreak of the disease last year in Japan cost the agriculture industry almost $3 billion. Despite reassurance from U.S. officials, cattle futures sped sharply lower on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange amid concerns the case could hurt demand for beef. Traders said it added to bearish fundamentals already in the cattle market. Agwunobi said the infected woman, whose family was interviewed, had lived in the United States since the early 1990s. "We're of the opinion that this is a situation where an individual came in contact with affected cattle products, probably in another country, moved to the United States and began to develop symptoms here," Agwunobi added. "We're also very confident that no cattle or cattle products in the United States have ever been identified as being contaminated with mad cow disease," he said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) said it felt "very confident that the United States does not have mad cow disease." "We are very sure the (Florida woman) contracted the human form of mad cow disease while living in Britain," USDA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison said. New variant CJD is a rare, degenerative, fatal brain disorder that emerged in Britain and is thought to be caused by eating meat from cattle infected with mad cow disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (news - web sites) or BSE (news - web sites). No case of BSE has been identified in the United States, and if confirmed, this would be the first case of vCJD reported in a U.S. resident, the CDC said. However, because the disease is thought to have a long incubation period, officials said they believe the patient acquired the disease in Britain. The clinical diagnosis was made at a hospital in Britain and the woman has since returned to the United States. The CDC said limited evidence about the disease indicated there had never been a case transmitted from person to person. NO ALARM George Gray, lead author of a Harvard University mad cow study released last November that found little risk of the disease turning up in American cattle, said he did not think the case "is anything U.S. consumers should be worried about." Gray said the U.S. case was not surprising because a large number of people travel between the United States and Britain. "It's a tragic thing, but I think it has to be kept in context of the origins of the disease," Gray said. "The connection to the U.K. makes out the most likely place where she was infected." Carol DuBois, a National Cattlemen's Beef Association (news - web sites) spokeswoman, said her group was not overly concerned and had not received any calls from beef producers on the issue. "The general reaction (from U.S. beef producers) is that it's a tragic situation but a reminder that we are doing the right thing ... by making sure we don't have this in the United States." The CDC said of the 125 vCJD patients worldwide, almost all had multiple-year exposures in Britain between 1980 and 1996 during the occurrence of a large outbreak of BSE among cattle. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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