[wordup] Man dies in first Canadian case of human form of ‘mad cow’ disease

[Adam Shand]

From: http://www.msnbc.com/news/792141.asp?cp1=1

Man dies in first Canadian case of human form of ‘mad cow’ disease

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TORONTO, Aug. 9 — A Canadian man has died in the country’s first
confirmed case of the human brain condition linked to “mad cow” disease,
officials said Thursday.

THE UNIDENTIFIED MAN, said to be under 50 years old, contracted the “new
variant” form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease while in Britain, which has
faced several outbreaks of the disease, said Dr. Antonio Giulivi, an
official with the Canadian government agency, Health Canada.

“There is no evidence that mad cow disease has entered the Canadian food
supply, and therefore we can reassure the Canadian public the person did
not acquire the disease in Canada,” Giulivi said.

The man died at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Officials have contacted 71 people who came into contact with medical
equipment used on the infected man. Health Canada officials said there
is a remote chance the equipment, though cleaned and decontaminated,
could still carry the fatal, brain-wasting illness. There is no cure for
the disease.

Giulivi said “all evidence” suggests the man acquired the disease during
several long-term stays in Britain during the height of the disease’s
outbreak.

While in Britain, he “regularly ate processed meat products,” and those
products, if made from infected cow meat, can transmit the disease to
humans, Giulivi said.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, is a rare condition with several
causes. The new variant form has been linked to eating cattle products
from animals with mad cow disease. CJD can also be inherited, appear
sporadically with no known cause, or result from infection with
contaminated medical equipment or tissue.

The disease causes a rapidly progressive dementia and, in most cases,
involuntary jerking movements.

More than 100 Britons have died from new variant CJD.

The victim’s name, exact age and when he died were not made public.
Officials have said he died this summer, and doctors confirmed the
diagnosis on Aug. 6.

The illness can only be confirmed through an autopsy.
       
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