CORRECTION
The news item "Variant CJD Claimed 70 Brits in 2006" in the Feb. 9 edition of BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly was incorrect. The piece cited a British media report from the United Kingdom's (UK) Department of Health (DOH) report claiming 70 UK deaths were officially attributed to variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) in 2006, and more than 1,000 such deaths had occurred in the UK since 1996.
In actuality, the Feb. 5, 2007 report from DOH said that, as of Feb. 2, UK deaths confirmed as definitely attributable to vCJD are 112, deaths from probable vCJD (without neuropathological confirmation) - 46; and total number of deaths from definite or probable vCJD - 158. The number of probable vCJD cases in the UK still alive are seven, and the total number of definite or probable vCJD (dead and alive) are 165.
CJD is a brain-wasting disease first classified in the 1920s that affects all humans, meat eaters and non-meat eaters alike, at a rate of 1 case in 1 million persons. In 1996, doctors reported a variant of the disease -- vCJD -- that is thought to be caused by consumption of beef containing the agent that causes BSE in cattle.
To read the report, visit:
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=261721&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False
The news item "Variant CJD Claimed 70 Brits in 2006" in the Feb. 9 edition of BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly was incorrect. The piece cited a British media report from the United Kingdom's (UK) Department of Health (DOH) report claiming 70 UK deaths were officially attributed to variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) in 2006, and more than 1,000 such deaths had occurred in the UK since 1996.
In actuality, the Feb. 5, 2007 report from DOH said that, as of Feb. 2, UK deaths confirmed as definitely attributable to vCJD are 112, deaths from probable vCJD (without neuropathological confirmation) - 46; and total number of deaths from definite or probable vCJD - 158. The number of probable vCJD cases in the UK still alive are seven, and the total number of definite or probable vCJD (dead and alive) are 165.
CJD is a brain-wasting disease first classified in the 1920s that affects all humans, meat eaters and non-meat eaters alike, at a rate of 1 case in 1 million persons. In 1996, doctors reported a variant of the disease -- vCJD -- that is thought to be caused by consumption of beef containing the agent that causes BSE in cattle.
To read the report, visit:
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=261721&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False