Monique
May22-04, 03:14 PM
Or not? NewScientist.com (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995021)
Almost 4000 Britons aged between 10 and 30 may be harbouring the prion proteins that cause the human form of mad cow disease. The new estimate comes from direct analyses of human biopsies, and is much higher than epidemiological projections of the likely number of deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).
The investigators discovered three infected tonsil or appendix samples from a total of 12,674 stored between 1995 and 1999. However, because so few positive samples were found, the projected total of 3808 can only be speculative. Furthermore, harbouring the prions may not necessarily lead to vCJD.
"I don't think too much should be read into our findings, but they should be investigated further," says David Hilton, of the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, UK, who led the study.
He notes that only one of the three positive samples matched the usual pattern of prion accumulation seen in confirmed vCJD cases.
The other two are different. "It could mean these are false positives," says Hilton. If they are, then the predicted incidence of the disease drops by two-thirds, from 237 per million British citizens to just 79 per million.
[continued..]
Almost 4000 Britons aged between 10 and 30 may be harbouring the prion proteins that cause the human form of mad cow disease. The new estimate comes from direct analyses of human biopsies, and is much higher than epidemiological projections of the likely number of deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).
The investigators discovered three infected tonsil or appendix samples from a total of 12,674 stored between 1995 and 1999. However, because so few positive samples were found, the projected total of 3808 can only be speculative. Furthermore, harbouring the prions may not necessarily lead to vCJD.
"I don't think too much should be read into our findings, but they should be investigated further," says David Hilton, of the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, UK, who led the study.
He notes that only one of the three positive samples matched the usual pattern of prion accumulation seen in confirmed vCJD cases.
The other two are different. "It could mean these are false positives," says Hilton. If they are, then the predicted incidence of the disease drops by two-thirds, from 237 per million British citizens to just 79 per million.
[continued..]