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From: TSS ()
-------- Original Message -------- Editorial team1 (eurosurveillance.weekly@hpa.org.uk) and Arnold Bosman2 TSS 1Eurosurveillance editorial office 2Centrum voor Infectieziekten Epidemiologie, Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, Bilthoven, the Netherlands The first probable case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) disease in a patient in the Netherlands was yesterday reported by the Dutch Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport) [1,2]. The patient is currently being treated at a hospital in Utrecht. The case, in a 26 year old woman, was detected through national surveillance of CJD, coordinated by the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, and the probable diagnosis is based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical signs. The diagnosis was reviewed by the United Kingdom's National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, which runs The European and Allied Countries Collaborative Study Group of CJD (EUROCJD, http://www.eurocjd.ed.ac.uk/EUROINDEX.htm). The Netherlands has informed the European authorities via the European Early Warning and Response System (EWRS). The patient has never donated or received blood or tissue, and the likelihood that any other people have been exposed to this infection is reported to be very small. References: 1. Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport . Eerste patiënt met variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Press release, 21 April 2005. [in Dutch] (http://www.minvws.nl/nieuwsberichten/pg/2005/eerste-patint-met-variant-crue tzfeldt-jakob.asp) 2. Utrecht: Mesos Medisch Centrum. Persverklaring [Press release], 21 April 2005. [in Dutch] (http://www.mesos.nl/html/actueel/act1.htm) CJD (NEW VAR.) - NETHERLANDS: 1ST CASE ProMED-mail is a program of the 1st case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease reported in The Netherlands It said European authorities had been informed and the inspector of health was investigating whether there was any risk that the disease could have infected others. Around 150 cases of vCJD have been reported in the world, most of them in Britain. There have also been cases in France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada, and the United States. There have been more than 70 cases of "mad cow disease" or BSE [Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy] in animals in the Netherlands since 1997, but the interior ministry said that Dutch beef was safe because all cattle were tested for BSE. "Beef in the Netherlands is safe because all susceptible cattle are tested for BSE at slaughter," the ministry said. The brain-wasting disease known as vCJD, is fatal and incurable. It is thought to be caused by eating food tainted with material from cattle with BSE, or mad cow disease, which is a progressive neurological disorder. The Netherlands announced strict new restrictions last year on blood donation over concerns about the transmission of vCJD through blood transfusion. BSE first emerged in British cattle in the 1980s and forced the destruction of millions of animals. After assuring people beef was safe, British officials later were forced to admit that some people apparently were infected with a human version of BSE by eating certain products. -- [see also: ................arn/cp/pg/sh TSS
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