NR ASFF
AU von Radowitz,J.
TI Girl, 13, shows CJD symptoms
QU PA News, November 23, 1999
PT Zeitungsartikel
VT
John von Radowitz, Medical Correspondent, PA News
A 13-year-old girl may, according to this story, be the youngest victim of the human form of mad cow disease.
The girl, whose identity and whereabouts are being kept secret, is, the story adds, thought to be displaying symptoms of new variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease.
The story says that if the case is confirmed it has major implications. It raises the question of whether the girl was infected by baby food, and may shed light on the disease's incubation period.
The girl was less than a year old in 1986 when BSE, the cattle disease thought to manifest itself in humans as the new variant form of CJD, was formally identified.
Three years later the Government banned parts of the cow most likely to be infected, such as the brain and spinal cord, from human food products. So far the youngest of the 48 people to have died from nvCJD has been 16. David Churchill, chairman of the support group the Human BSE Foundation, was cited as saying he was aware of the case, adding, "I can confirm that the story is true - the girl is showing symptoms of the disease. This case raises a whole new spectre. There's no way anyone can say this child picked up nvCJD prior to knowledge about BSE. Back in 1986 BSE was not only identified but becoming prevalent. It can only have been picked up after the emergence of BSE, and the likelihood is that it was through baby food. ... The ability to diagnose this illness from its symptoms is improving with each case, and there are some fairly clear diagnostic guidelines now. The chances of a misdiagnosis, or missed diagnosis, are less likely than they used to be."
Although the disease could only be confirmed for certain after death, the girl was showing signs and behaviour known to be linked with nvCJD. Heather Paine, spokeswoman for the Infant and Dietetic Foods Association, was cited as saying that as far as she knew no high-risk beef material, such as mechanically recovered meat stripped off the spine, had ever been used in baby products, adding, "To my knowledge no MRM from cattle has ever been put in baby food. Manufacturers are very aware of what mothers want to feed their babies."
At one-year-old the girl would probably have been weaned off commercial baby food and eating home-prepared meals which may have included mince and beef cuts, said Ms Paine.
IN Eine 13-jährige Britin leidet vermutlich an der neuen Variante der Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Krankheit.
ZR 0
SP englisch