Risk of contracting CJD lowered, says Blood Bank

THE risk of Irish people contracting the human form of mad cow disease is declining, according to the Blood Bank.

“It looks like the epidemic of cases in Britain is declining and that means the relative risk to Irish people is declining as well. It’s clearly good news for everyone,” said Dr William Murphy, national director of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS).

The most recent research published in the Lancet medical journal has shown that there is a clear downward trend in British cases of variant Creutzeld Jakob Disease (vCJD) since 2000. That year 28 people died but the number has declined since to 20 deaths in 2001, 17 in 2002 and, so far, four provisionally recorded deaths this year.