Could we face the return of CJD? Experts fear it may lie dormant in thousands
By Lois Rogers/Daily Mail
Article HERE:
Holly Mills was a lively teenager about to start university. But with her whole life ahead of her, she suddenly found herself in the grip of tragedy. Within the space of just a few months, the gregarious 18-year-old had become so severely brain damaged that she was unable to move or communicate. Eight years on, Holly has to be fed through a tube into her stomach and shows no emotion or awareness of her tragic predicament. Her days are spent in heartbreaking, silent immobility.
Holly is one of only three people still alive after developing the full-blown symptoms of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (also known as new variant CJD, or vCJD) — the human form of mad cow disease. Holly’s parents Peter and Linda, both 61, are devoting themselves to their daughter’s full-time care and to a programme of daily mental stimulation, in the belief they are keeping her brain alive until a treatment emerges that will help her. While they and their three older children live in hope of a cure for Holly, there is growing concern that another CJD outbreak may be imminent.
New evidence collected by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) suggests that one in 4,000 people who were eating meat before 1996 is probably carrying CJD (after that date, cattle infected with mad cow disease were, theoretically, removed from the food chain).
That could mean that as many as 15,000 people nationwide could be affected. While this is in line with a previous survey, the latest findings suggest CJD might be more prevalent in older people. Read more:
By Lois Rogers/Daily Mail
Article HERE:
Holly Mills was a lively teenager about to start university. But with her whole life ahead of her, she suddenly found herself in the grip of tragedy. Within the space of just a few months, the gregarious 18-year-old had become so severely brain damaged that she was unable to move or communicate. Eight years on, Holly has to be fed through a tube into her stomach and shows no emotion or awareness of her tragic predicament. Her days are spent in heartbreaking, silent immobility.
Holly is one of only three people still alive after developing the full-blown symptoms of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (also known as new variant CJD, or vCJD) — the human form of mad cow disease. Holly’s parents Peter and Linda, both 61, are devoting themselves to their daughter’s full-time care and to a programme of daily mental stimulation, in the belief they are keeping her brain alive until a treatment emerges that will help her. While they and their three older children live in hope of a cure for Holly, there is growing concern that another CJD outbreak may be imminent.
New evidence collected by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) suggests that one in 4,000 people who were eating meat before 1996 is probably carrying CJD (after that date, cattle infected with mad cow disease were, theoretically, removed from the food chain).
That could mean that as many as 15,000 people nationwide could be affected. While this is in line with a previous survey, the latest findings suggest CJD might be more prevalent in older people. Read more:
