Mad Cow Disease to become endemic in UK*

By Bonnie Malkin and agencies
Last Updated: 12:39pm BST 24/09/2007

The human form of mad cow disease could become so widespread it is
impossible to eradicate in the UK, a leading scientist has warned.

Thousands of people could be infected with variant CJD (vCJD) without
showing symptoms, Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD
Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University, said.

vCJD 'could become endemic'
Scientists 'must develop a rapid screening test for the disease'

As a result, they could undergo blood transfusions and have surgical
equipment used on them which could lead to the spread of the disease.

Prof Ironside will tell a lecture audience tomorrow that scientists must
develop a rapid screening test for the disease.

He will also challenge the perception that the vCJD outbreak in the
1990s was an isolated threat to humans.

Prof Ironside said: "Although the number of BSE and vCJD cases is
dropping, we ignore these diseases at our peril.

"We know that a significant number of people could be infected with vCJD
without showing symptoms. However, we do not know how many people may be
affected, and there is no cure or treatment.

"Until we develop a rapid screening test, the unknowing carriers pose a
great risk of infecting others through donating blood or having surgical
operations."

Prof Ironside was a member of the team in the National CJD Surveillance
Unit in Edinburgh that identified variant CJD in 1996.

It is a rare and ultimately fatal progressive degenerative brain disease
and is linked with BSE in cattle.

More than 70 cases were diagnosed after it emerged in the mid-1990s in
the UK.

The lecture tomorrow will coincide with the start of Prion 2007, the
leading scientific conference on prion diseases, which is being held in
Edinburgh until Thursday.

The aim of the lecture is to further public understanding of vCJD and
clarify the risk of human-to-human transmission posed by the thousands
of people who may be infected without showing any symptoms.