BMJ 1996;312:1038-1039 (20 April)

Letters

Risk to human populations is remote

EDITOR,--Many commentaries on bovine spongiform encephalopathy have focused concern on recent unusual cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an apparently important increase in the incidence of the disease, and statistical accretions in particular age and occupational groups. A link between the two disease raises the possibility (even if not the probability) of risk to large numbers of people.1 Indeed, the standardised mortality ratios for deaths due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease reported to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys during the 15 years 1979-93 show a significant excess in 1992 ({chi}2=11.67, P<0.01) and the interval 1987-93 ({chi}2=4.29, P<0.05). The age adjusted mortality rose by 30%, from 0.6 to 0.8 deaths per million.

Deaths from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the two intervals 1979-85 and 1987-93 can also, however, be viewed as two samples taken from a common distribution, with the earlier sample being less complete than the later. The difference between the two . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Bovine Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?
Sheila M Gore
BMJ 1996 312: 791-793. [Extract] [Full Text]

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