vCJD 'could be endemic in UK'
Updated on 24 September 2007
The human form of mad cow disease could become endemic throughout the UK, a leading scientist has warned.
Thousands could be infected with variant CJD without showing symptoms, and blood transfusions and surgical equipment used on them could lead to the spread of the disease.
Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University, will tell an audience that this underlines the need for 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.
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.
