Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was first found in humans in 1995 and is thought to be transmitted in infected meat and bone. Since 2000, more than 800 Spanish have suffered from different types of vCJD but the only case of a death in the country was in July 2005.
Recently, however, two people have died in Spain after contracting this human form of "mad cow disease". The woman, 50 years old, died in December 2007 while the man, 41 years old, died in February 2008.
Elena Espinosa, from the Spanish Ministry of Health, has asked the consumers and the farmer sector to "be calmed". Javier Castrodeza, Public Health General Director of the Regional Government of Castilla Leon, where the two people died, declared that this facts don’t have any "relevant health consequences" and "don’t involve a public health problem" at all.
For further information
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD)
Spanish Ministry of Health.
Regional Government of Castilla Leon
El Pais. "Dos muertes por vacas locas"(Spanish).
El Mundo. "Los dos casos de ’vacas locas’ traen a la memoria la crisis ganadera de 2001"(Spanish)
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