How did variant CJD appear?
Variant CJD is a new strain of the disease first officially recognised in April 1996. Scientists are now convinced that it is really BSE that has jumped the species barrier and taken on a human guise. What are the characteristics of variant CJD? The variant strain differs from “classical” CJD and its inherited cousin disease in a number of ways. It affects much younger people – the average age of victims is 27.5 – and destroys the brain in a particular way. Victims show a distinct pattern of brain electrical activity. People with the disease suffer depression and delusions, become shaky and uncoordinated, and are afflicted with dementia symptoms that wipe out their memory and leave them utterly confused. Death comes quickly, typically in about six months. How does the disease pass from cattle to humans? Both BSE and variant CJD are thought to be caused by prions, a particular type of protein. Abnormal prions that have changed shape accumulate in the brain and destroy it. They also crea
