Mad Cow Disease: British Researcher Warns of Second Wave of CJD

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By VRP Staff

A leading British scientist warns that the current wave of human mad cow disease (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD), represents only the tip of the iceberg, and that a second outbreak of vCJD may be imminent.

Professor John Collinge and his team at Imperial College, London, note that the 99 British victims already struck by vCJD, the human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, may be genetically disposed to develop the disease in the shortest amount of time. This means that other people infected in the late 1980s have simply not yet developed the disease. If Collinge is correct, the implications are that a second outbreak of vCJD is in the works — one that will be spread out over several decades.

Collinge and his team isolated three new mouse genes that have a major effect on the incubation period of the disease. Given the similarity between mouse and human genes, Collinge says it is almost certain that corresponding genes in humans will be identified.

Three genetic types, referred to as MM, VV, and MV, are seen in the population. All those who have so far developed vCJD were from the MM genotype, Collinge explained. It is therefore a statement of the obvious that the people who have the human variant of vCJD so far come from the gene group with the shortest incubation period.

We may well be looking at an epidemic that evolves over decades in a series of waves, he added. This study reminds us that we cannot be complacent about the potential risks to public health posed by BSE.

(Reuters, May 16, 2001)

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