CJD brain disease on the increase

New Fears Over CJD

But the study, published in the British Medical Journal, says this may be due to improvements in detection, rather than any link with the BSE epidemic in cows.

A total of more than 150,000 cases of BSE have been reported in British cattle since the epidemic began. It is thought it should die out within 10 years but the debate about the human form of the disease, CJD, continues.

The new study shows a higher than expected number of cases among workers on dairy farms, but scientists say that is in line with CJD cases in European countries which have little or no BSE.

Dr Bob Will of the CJD Surveillance Unit emphasises that the disease is still extremely rare: "The problem is that CJD is such a rare disease that sometimes you find an excess in a particular occupation just by chance. But the question is could this be related to BSE, and we don't think so. The reason is that in Europe there are similar numbers of farmers who are developing CJD again in countries without BSE."

A burger a week may be too much

There is still concern, however, about a new variant of CJD which disproportionately affects young people, and which is thought most likely to be caused by BSE-infected meat. Another study published on Friday shows that in the 1980s almost half of those aged 16 to 24 ate a burger or kebab a week, compared to just 13% of those over 50.

According to Professor Nick Day of Cambridge University, "This presents a pattern of consumption for particular types of beef products that is fully consistent with the age patterns for the appearance of CJD, so it helps to build up an overall picture of the disease and the factors giving rise to the disease, which explains how it could have taken place in the population."

It is hoped that laboratory studies of infected mice will soon confirm or disprove the link between eating beef and CJD once and for all.

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CJD - the facts