Human form of mad cow disease surfaces

Ireland has suffered its first homegrown case of the human form of mad cow disease, the government confirmed yesterday.

Health Minister Mary Harney sent a message of sympathy to the victim, a man in his early 20s, after The Irish Times reported his positive diagnosis for variant Crutzfeld-Jakob Disease or vCJD, a fatal condition.

The newspaper quoted the patient's neurologist as saying that the victim and his family "have asked that their privacy be respected. It has been a very traumatic time for them." Ireland's health department confirmed that the man has never received or donated blood, and has lived his entire life in Ireland.

The fatal brain-wasting disease is believed to come from eating beef products from cows struck with mad cow disease, which is formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE.

A positive diagnosis of vCJD often does not occur until the patient dies and can be autopsied.

But the Irish Times reported yesterday that a biopsy of one of the patient's tonsils has detected the rogue protein prion in the tissue. Scientists have linked prion to vCJD in humans and BSE in cattle. That finding, in addition to the pattern of damage detected in the patient's brain, "has put the diagnosis beyond doubt," the newspaper said.

Mad cow disease eats holes in the brains of cattle. It appeared in Britain in 1986 and spread through Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction of herds and devastating the European beef industry.