CJDSU 7th Annual report (for 1998)

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Subj: CJDSU 7th Annual report (for 1998)

Date: 4/3/99 9:27:38 AM Eastern Standard Time

From: jralphb@... (J Ralph Blanchfield)

Sender: BSE-L@... (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy)

Reply-to: BSE-L@... (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy)

To: BSE-L@... (Multiple recipients of list BSE-L)

Hello Everyone,

A News Release by UK Dept of Health is appended regarding the publication

on 31 March 1999 of the 7th Annual Report of the CJD Surveillance Unit.

It contains a wealth of useful information and analyses of data on CJD,

including tables, diagrams and graphs that I cannot reproduce in a posted

message.

Importantly, but not referred to in the news release, for the first time

CJDSU has revealed some information which many of us have called for and

which only CJDSU possessed, i.e. nvCJD cases in relation to best estimate

of date of onset of clinical symptoms rather than just date of death.

The full text of the Report including all the tables, diagrams and graphs

is at http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/rep98.html on the CJDSU Web site.

Regards

Ralph

******************************************************************

J Ralph Blanchfield, MBE

Food Science, Food Technology & Food Law Consultant

Chair, IFST External Affairs

Web Editor, Institute of Food Science & Technology

IFST Web address http://www.easynet.co.uk/ifst/>

e-mail: jralphb@...> ICQ# 6254687.

ICQ Web page

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UK Dept of Health News Release

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1999/0191 Wednesday 31st March 1999

SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE UNIT PUBLISHED

The seventh annual report of the National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh was published today by the Department

of Health.

The report covers the period from May 1990, when the Unit was set up,

to 31 December 1998. It focuses on sporadic, familial and iatrogenic

CJD and new variant CJD (nvCJD). The report also provides analyses of

data collected by the Unit on the dietary, occupational and medical

histories of patients.

The main findings of the report are:

the overall incidence of CJD in the UK remains comparable to other

countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world, including countries

which are BSE free;

there has been an increase in the number of cases of sporadic CJD

recorded in England and Wales for the period 1970 - 31 December 1998.

Most of the increase is amongst those aged 70 and above and probably

reflects improved case ascertainment than a real increase in the

incidence of the disease;

the case control study found that sporadic CJD patients were more

likely than controls to have a family history of dementia but this

finding is difficult to interpret. It is possible that relatives of

individuals with a dementia might be more likely to recall other

members of the family with dementia than relatives of a patient

without dementia;

the report shows an unusual increase in the number of nvCJD cases in

the last quarter of 1998. However it is too soon to say if this

represents an underlying change in the incidence of the disease. The

Unit will monitor the situation and a clearer picture may emerge as

the year progresses;

as in previous reports, a study of the occupations of people with CJD

shows no conclusive evidence of a link between occupation and CJD,

including nvCJD;

ongoing analysis of the data shows no convincing evidence of

space-time clustering of cases of sporadic or nvCJD.