Japan confirms first case of human mad cow disease
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-04 14:07

Japan on Friday confirmed its first case of the human variant of mad cow disease, a fatal brain disease thought to be contracted by eating infected beef.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that a man had died last December after contracting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

More than 140 people have died worldwide from definitive or probable vCJD after eating meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Britain has been the worst hit by mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and thought to be transmitted among animals via feed containing bovine brains or spinal cord.

Cases of vCJD have also been reported in France, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States, according to the World Health Organisation.

The deceased man spent about a month in Britain around 1990, Kyodo news said, quoting the Health Ministry. Scientists estimate the incubation period for vCJD as 10 to 20 years.

Around 7 million animals had been slaughtered in Britain by the end of June 2004 under a scheme aimed at preventing the spread of the infection.

Japan has reported 14 cases of BSE and banned imports of Canadian beef in May 2003 and of U.S. beef in December 2003 after cases of mad cow disease in those countries.

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