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 (χ …