Only one more case of vCJD in Ireland ...( d that there was likely to be only one ...),Health

Their estimate only considers those people who will catch vCJD from infected beef or beef products. It does not include any cases arising through secondary transmission, for example via surgical equipment that had previously been used on an infected patient.

The researchers believe that, "the development of a suitable blood test that would allow screening of large numbers of the population would prove extremely valuable in further quantifying the risk to the Irish population of vCJD". This would help to identify the number of people who were suffering from vCJD, but had not yet shown symptoms. Performing surgery on these people, could potentially lead to contamination of surgical instruments, and cause further spread of the disease.

Nor does the estimate take into consideration the possibility that meat other than beef could have been infected with BSE. The researchers write, "To ensure that we are identifying all vCJD cases, and also to ensure that the disease is not entering the human population by a more surreptitious route (e.g. via different animals) it is of considerable importance that the Irish CJD Surveillance Unit continue to be notified of all possible cases of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies."

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BioMed Central
25-Nov-2003