DISTURBING new evidence suggests that nearly three times as many people may
be at risk from BSE than previously thought.
So far, all victims of vCJD, the human form of BSE, have been from a minority
of the population with a particular genetic make-up. This raised hopes that most
of the population was immune to the infection.
But the discovery that a closely related disease called Kuru is more
widespread among people in Papua New Guinea than previously thought, suggests
vCJD may pose a threat to everyone exposed to the infectious agent that causes
it.
According to vCJD expert and…
