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Topic: VCJD


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In the News (Sat 26 Dec 09)

  
  BioMed Central | Full text | vCJD risk in the Republic of Ireland
Initial estimates of the potential size of any vCJD epidemic were hampered by lack of knowledge of both the incubation period distribution and the infectiousness of BSE-infected cattle to humans (the species barrier) [7].
As the years progressed, and the exponential rise in cases was not seen, it became possible to reduce the estimates for upper limits of any potential epidemic from millions in 1998[7], to 136,000 in 2000 [8], to 7000 in 2002 [9].
To obtain confidence intervals for the expected number of future cases of vCJD in the Republic of Ireland, we fit a survival model to the vCJD deaths recorded in the UK to the end of 2002.
www.biomedcentral.com /1471-2334/3/28   (4635 words)

  
 WHO | Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
As with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, vCJD is classified as a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) because of characteristic spongy degeneration of the brain and its ability to be transmitted.
A vCJD-BSE link is further supported by the demonstration that vCJD is associated with a molecular marker that distinguishes it from other forms of CJD and which resembles that seen in BSE transmitted to a number of other species.
Due to strong suspicions of a linkage between vCJD and BSE, the British government made BSE a notifiable disease in June 1988.
www.who.int /mediacentre/factsheets/fs180/en   (1977 words)

  
 Special Report on BSE and vCJD - New Scientist
Viruses, not prions, may be at the root of diseases such as scrapie, BSE and vCJD, according to new research
It may be that viruses, and not mutant prions, are at the root of diseases such as scrapie, BSE and vCJD, according to new research
A man is confirmed to have died of vCJD in Japan - officials claim a brief trip to the UK 16 years ago is to blame
www.newscientist.com /channel/health/bse   (1669 words)

  
 Variant CJD, Fact Sheet | CDC vCJD
In contrast, the median age at death of patients with vCJD in the United Kingdom is 28 years.
vCJD can be confirmed only through examination of brain tissue obtained by biopsy or at autopsy, but a "probable case" of vCJD can be diagnosed on the basis of clinical criteria developed in the United Kingdom.
The incubation period for vCJD is unknown because it is a new disease.
www.cdc.gov /ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/factsheet_nvcjd.htm   (1380 words)

  
  WFH Statement on Second vCJD Transfusion-Transmission Case   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
Although the patient had no symptoms of vCJD and died of causes unrelated to vCJD, a post mortem examination revealed the evidence of vCJD infection in the spleen.
To date, all reported cases of vCJD have been found to be M/M homozygous at codon 129 of the normal prion gene (a genetic variation found in a minority of the UK population).
The risk of such occurrences appears to be predominately a risk for recipients of blood components collected in the U.K. Donor screening procedures and blood banking policies initiated in countries throughout the world appear to be appropriate to reduce the risk of such transmissions to a minimum.
www.hemophilia.ca /en/4.2.3.php   (564 words)

  
 Homepage | CDC vCJD
The median age at death for vCJD patients is 28 years, compared with 68 years for patients with classic CJD.
Both disorders are invariably fatal brain diseases with unusually long incubation periods measured in years, and are caused by an unconventional transmissible agent.
In 1996, because of the emergence of vCJD in the United Kingdom, CDC enhanced its surveillance for CJD in the United States.
www.cdc.gov /ncidod/dvrd/vcjd   (390 words)

  
 No vCJD Time bomb
The findings dispel fears of a vCJD timebomb, which were raised last year when research suggested that up to 3,800 people might be infected with the incurable brain disorder.
Dr Ghani, who was part of the team that made that estimate, said that the figure was a “rough back-of-the-envelope calculation”, and that the new work is a much better reflection of the likely shape of the disease’s spread.
Every clinical case of vCJD reported has occurred in people with particular genetic attributes, and there is concern that people with different DNA profiles could be susceptible after a longer incubation period.
www.warmwell.com /05jan12cjd.html   (1229 words)

  
 vCJD
His son, the longest-known survivor of vCJD, was diagnosed with the condition three years ago and was expected to die earlier this year before receiving the...
Only some weeks ago a vCJD case was diagnosed in Ireland, which only developed after an incubation period of many years, and which is thought to have been...
However, even one extra case of vCJD could be too much for public perception and the Department of Health is refusing to authorise the end of the ban on cattle...
health.cancer-help.org /news/vCJD.html   (2670 words)

  
 United Press International: French woman may have had vCJD in 1971
The woman's identity could not be revealed for confidentiality reasons, but it is known she was French and approximately 40 to 50 years old when she died in 1971, Johnson said.
At the time of her death, the woman was thought to be suffering from sporadic CJD, a condition with no known cause that appears to arise spontaneously.
Johnson subscribes to the hypothesis put out by his NIH colleague Joe Gibbs, who thought it was possible that all mammals, including cows, spontaneously develop a mad cow-like disease at the rate of one per million.
www.upi.com /view.cfm?StoryID=20050323-061733-6847r   (925 words)

  
 Research confirms that vCJD prions can be removed from blood
Both vCJD and scrapie are transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) that cause fatal, neurorodegenerative prion diseases in humans and animals.
The concentration of infectious vCJD prions in the red cell concentrates was measured before and after filtration with the Pall Leukotrap Prion Affinity Reduction Filter using a Western blot assay.
The research with infectious scrapie prions was a follow-up study that evaluated the efficacy of the filter to determine whether a test group of animals receiving the filtered red blood cells had the prion disease versus a control group that received the unfiltered red cells.
www.eurekalert.org /pub_releases/2004-11/pc-rct110204.php   (1187 words)

  
 1000s Of Brits To Be Warned Of Possible vCJD Infection   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
The vCJD risk assessment, first announced by Westminster Health Secretary John Reid in December last year, was ordered at the time as a precautionary measure after a patient who had received a trans fusion from someone with vCJD also died of the disease.
The recipient of the blood died in the autumn of 2003 and at a post-mortem vCJD was found in their brain.
The department of health last night refused to reveal the outcome of the risk assessment, but it is understood that behind-the-scenes talks have been ongoing with senior health officials and groups such as the Haemophilia Society about the potential outcome of the exercise.
www.rense.com /general56/posscj.htm   (553 words)

  
 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Questions & Answers
In the UK the majority of cases of vCJD were born before 1980, and it is very unlikely that they received vaccines contaminated with the BSE agent (Vaccine 2000; 19:409-410).
Surveillance of vCJD in the UK has identified three "risk factors," or characteristics common to most if not all of the people who had vCJD: i) residence in the UK; ii) a particular genetic susceptibility (met/met homozygosity at codon 129 of the PrP gene); and iii) age.
In estimating these risks it is necessary to consider the country of origin of any bovine material, the type of bovine tissue used, the steps used to process the bovine tissue, the amount of bovine derived material used and the stage of vaccine manufacture at which the bovine material is used.
www.fda.gov /cber/bse/bseqa.htm   (5296 words)

  
 Scientists predict swift end to vCJD epidemic
Previous estimates of the size of the vCJD epidemic have been uncertain, with the estimated upper limit of cases in the UK as high as 50,000 only two years ago.
This is a similar to the incubation period of Kuru, the related disease that affected people in Papua New-Guinea after they ate the brain tissue of infected individuals.
The researchers used a statistical model based on the annual number of cases of vCJD seen in the UK and the levels of exposure to infected cattle.
www.eurekalert.org /pub_releases/2003-05/bc-sps051903.php   (553 words)

  
 vCJD continues to baffle scientists; teenagers disproportionately susceptible
This model predicted that 48% of those with vCJD are over 40, whereas in reality only 10% of people affected by the disease fall into this age group.
The susceptibility to vCJD was predicted to increase during childhood, peak during adolescence and decrease sharply afterwards.
With this model, 12% of cases were estimated to be in people over 40, and the predicted ages of people with the disease showed good agreement with the actual distribution of cases.
www.eurekalert.org /pub_releases/2004-08/bc-vct080904.php   (556 words)

  
 CNN.com - UK sets up £55m vCJD trust - September 29, 2001
The toll of those believed to have died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) stands at 101, according to the Department of Health.
David Churchill, whose 19-year-old Stephen son was the first person to die of vCJD in 1995, said the Government was at last trying to put a wrong right.
The Department of Health has said so far there have been 101 deaths from vCJD and there are five people with the disease who are still alive.
www.cnn.com /2001/WORLD/europe/09/29/uk.vcjd/index.html   (446 words)

  
 New Sensitive Assessment Method For The Detection Of vCJD   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
However, quantifying the risk of secondary infection, and the targeting of risk-reduction strategies, is limited by the lack of knowledge about the relative prion concentrations in these and other peripheral tissues, the unknown prevalence of preclinical vCJD, and a transmission barrier which limits the sensitivity of biological assessment.
Tonsil, spleen, and lymph-node were positive for PrPSc at concentrations in the range of 0.1-15% of those found in brain: the highest concentrations were consistently seen in tonsil.
PrPSc was readily detected in the retina and optic nerve of vCJD eye at levels of 2-5% and 25%, respectively, of those found in brain.
www.cattlefeeder.ab.ca /herd/bse010719.shtml   (415 words)

  
 Mad Cow/CJD Update   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
The incidence of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, abbreviated CJD (new var.) or vCJD in ProMED-mail, in the UK appears to have plateaued, or perhaps to be in decline.
There are also unpublished surveillance data of children born to vCJD cases from the National CJD Surveillance Unit and UK surveillance of neurological illness in children which might inform on potential risks of maternal transmission.
However, the number of cases is very small and the incubation period of vCJD, if transmitted from mother to child, is unknown and so the children may yet be too young to have developed symptoms.
www.rense.com /general62/amad.htm   (3138 words)

  
 Frequently Asked Questions about Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
The agent that causes vCJD is believed to be an abnormal form of a protein, known as a prion.
Once a suspected case of vCJD is reported New Zealand’s CJD Registry, the Registry coordinates testing and works with case physicians and international experts to confirm the diagnosis.
The diagnosis of vCJD is very difficult, but brain scans, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and tonsil biopsy are two types of tests used to establish a probable diagnosis.
www.moh.govt.nz /moh.nsf/wpg_Index/About-CJD   (1404 words)

  
 vCJD risk from blood transfusion "appreciable" - 05 August 2002 - New Scientist
Previous work has suggested that BSE, and by extension vCJD, infectivity is concentrated in the white blood cell fraction of blood.
Therefore, blood donated in the country is filtered to remove most white blood cells, and most of the plasma used is imported from overseas.
The UK Department of Health says it recognises that the blood of patients with vCJD might contain transmissible levels of activity before clinical signs become apparent.
www.newscientist.com /article.ns?id=dn2632   (636 words)

  
 BLOOD TRANSFUSION INCIDENT INVOLVING VCJD
It is because this is the first report from anywhere in the world of the possible transmission of vCJD from person to person via blood that I thought it right to come to the despatch box to inform the House on a precautionary basis.
Firstly, since 1997 all cases of vCJD that are reported to the National CJD Surveillance Unit and diagnosed as having 'probable' vCJD, result in a search of the National Blood Service blood donor records.
These wider measures should be seen in the context of the precautionary action already taken on vCJD, and a recognition that so far we have only one single report of a possible link between a single donor and a single recipient.
www.info.doh.gov.uk /doh/embroadcast.nsf/vwDiscussionAll/0301ECC6DF485EF880256DFF004DA063   (1686 words)

  
 Recipients of blood or blood products "at vCJD risk"
All those who have received at vCJD risk blood or blood products, or are caught up in the "surgical web" spun out from them, or anyone who has suffered percutaneous injury involving blood at risk must refrain from blood or tissue donation and may have to accept restrictions on what they can do.
The responsibilities of recipients include to avoid transmission to others of vCJD and to contribute key data7 so that uncertainty for them and others about the size of risks is resolved as quickly as possible.
We also need to seek agreement from recipients in life for various investigations to be performed after death, especially on their tonsils and brains, so that key data are not lost.
www.organicconsumers.org /madcow/blood11704.cfm   (1021 words)

  
 More vCJD blood checks planned
So far two cases of vCJD have emerged in Ireland, the latest in October; both are believed to have been caused by eating contaminated beef.
Recent research has indicated that the likely number of future cases in Ireland will be very low, with a best estimate of one or two cases, and that the exposure to BSE-infected animals in Ireland is estimated at about 0.06% of that in Britain.
Dr Murphy said the confidence with which the number of future cases of vCJD are being predicted has a wide range of estimates, and there are certain assumptions made, one of which is the extent of the likely incidence of vCJD in the UK, which is not certain.
www.irishhealth.com /index.html?level=4&id=6660&var=print   (992 words)

  
 Guidance for Industry - Revised Preventive Measures to Reduce the Possible Risk of Transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob ...
The concentration of abnormal prion protein seen in vCJD lymphoid tissues has led to concerns that transmission of vCJD by blood might be a greater risk than for CJD (Ref. 9).
In particular, donors with vCJD are distinguished from those with CJD or CJD risk factors, because of very limited historical and epidemiological experience with vCJD, known pathological differences between CJD and vCJD, and uncertainty about the potential for vCJD transmission by blood transfusion.
The risk of vCJD transmission by plasma derivatives is based upon the infectivity, if any, of plasma during vCJD infection, the prevalence of vCJD in the donor population, the size of the plasma pool for fractionation, and the removal of vCJD infectivity during the manufacturing process.
www.fda.gov /cber/gdlns/cjdvcjd.htm   (9114 words)

  
 Frequently Asked Questions About "Mad Cow Disease" and Human Health
There have been 153 cases of vCJD reported in the world since the first case was identified in 1995, with 143 of these in the UK.
Experiments done with cattle and other animals suggest that almost all of the infectivity is in tissue from the cattle’s brain, spinal cord, and intestine, and that muscle meat itself is not infectious.
Statistics on vCJD in the UK, the human disease thought related to eating meat contaminated with brain or spinal tissue of cows infected with BSE, are available at: http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/figures.htm.
www.mass.gov /dph/cdc/factsheets/madcow.htm   (1596 words)

  
 Eurosurveillance Weekly 2004;8 (39): 23/09/2004
In December 2003, the death from vCJD of a person some years after receiving a blood transfusion from a donor who had died of vCJD was announced [1].
The CJDIP has used a vCJD blood risk assessment ( http://www.dnv.com/consulting/news_consulting/RiskofInfectionfromvariantCJDinBlood.asp), together with information on how the particular batches of plasma products were manufactured, to assess the potential levels of infection that patients were exposed to.
Patients in the UK who are ‘at-risk’ of vCJD for public health purposes are being contacted by their doctors and informed of the precautions they will need to take.
www.eurosurveillance.org /ew/2004/040923.asp   (3108 words)

  
 The vCJD quest at Queniborough
Variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD) was first recognized as a new disease in 1995 when the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), or mad cow disease, was still prevalent in Britain.
Although vCJD has been subject to £140 million in research over six years, the link between BSE and vCJD is assumed rather than proven.
The study further concluded that if the explanation was correct the incubation period for vCJD was from 10 to 16 years the time from earliest to latest exposure of the victims.
www.openi.co.uk /oi010322.htm   (1019 words)

  
 AR.net >> Deaths from vCJD Continue Decline in Great Britain
Since 1995, 122 people have been killed by vCJD and another eight people who are still alive are believe to be infected with the prion disease that is linked to the consumption of meat contaminated with a bovine version of the disease.
The big question is whether or not vCJD deaths will continue to decline.
In animal studies, for example, the incubation rate of vCJD-like diseases varies widely between individuals, so it is possible that the number of cases could begin to increase sometime in the future.
www.animalrights.net /archives/year/2003/000040.html   (204 words)

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