New Alert Over Brain Disease

MANY more people may be at risk of contracting the brain disease vCJD than previously thought, according to research out today.

A long incubation period for the disease, together with an ability to pass it on through blood transfusions and surgical instruments, has the potential to create a “significant public health issue”, scientists from Edinburgh said.

Through studies on mice, they concluded that variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) could lie in the body for many years without showing any symptoms.

Due to long incubation times for the disease, a significant level of underlying vCJD may already be present in the population, they said.

The experts also found that vCJD could be passed from human to human through secondary transmission – such as blood transfusions and contaminated surgical equipment – “with relative efficiency”.

The study, published on-line by The Lancet Neurology, said people may not know they have the agent for vCJD and thus there is a risk of further disease transmission through blood transfusions or equipment.