Agence France Presse
LONDON, April 28 (AFP) - British scientists trying to gauge the spread of the human variant of mad cow disease reported Friday that consumers should remain cautious, despite encouraging preliminary test results.
There were no signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in some 3,000 human tissue samples examined by British medical teams, the first stage of a wide-ranging government effort to examine a total of 18,000 samples from tonsil and appendix surgeries done in British hospitals since the 1980s.
"The fact that no positives have been found is welcome news, but these early results should not be taken as an indication of an all clear," the government's chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson told journalists Friday.
The British government hopes the tests will allow physicians to predict how many people can be expected to contract Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, a fatal brain ailment contracted by humans from BSE-infected meat, in the future.
Donaldson said the disease's incubation period is still a mystery, with some experts saying that it could be 20 years before the disease surfaces in some of those infected.
He reiterated that the study was preliminary and was not sufficient cause to lower safety standards.
The mad cow outbreak hit Britain the hardest, claiming 53 lives.
Medical authorities suspect that two more deaths may have also been caused by Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, and believe 12 British citizens are living with the disease.
Doctors' estimates on the extent of the epidemic vary, with between 100 cases reported to possibly hundreds of thousands of victims.
(posted without permission)
