1)Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a disease in cows, commonly known as "Mad Cow Disease". Trying to rename Creuzfeld Jakob Disease (CJD), the disease in humans which most resembles BSE, or any variant of it, "Human BSE" is wrong, and inflammatory.2)No one, anywhere knows whether the new form of CJD found in Britain is caused by consuming BSE contaminated meat. It could simply be a new, naturally mutated form of the disease. If so it would perhaps be predicted that the numbers of new cases of the new form would plateau. However if it is a direct result of eating beef, then the number of cases would be predicted to rise exponentially.
3)A small number of people die from CJD each year. This has been true for much longer than the first identification of BSE, and even before the discovery of the prion (small protein molecule) which is thought to cause BSE, CJD and scrapie in sheep.
4)The death of a vegetarian of CJD is in itself, not particularly unusual. Presumably it has happened before, and will happen again. No one has managed to identify the method of infection of CJD. Despite what they might like to tell you(!) vegetarianism does not protect you from all illness, or make you invulnerable.
5)If the new case of CJD reported in a vegetarian IS of the new form there are two possible conclusions to be reached:
A]It may have a very long incubation period, greater than ten years. Since no one knows how people are infected with CJD, no one can say what the "normal" incubation period is.
B]It may not be caused by the consumption of BSE infected meat at all. Instead it may merely be a mutation of CJD. Since no one can say for sure how a prion works, it is difficult to suggest an exact method of replication. But assuming it is a single protein it does not seem unreasonable to suggest it has a relatively high rate of mutation.
The whole "Human BSE" story is an example of how papers can manipulate the public. Every time a new CJD case is reported, in a manner which is entirely even handed, of course ;-), people come away with the impression that it is a proven fact that it was caught from contaminated meat. It doesn't help that people in Britain probably consume more beef than is good for them, and so the family can point to "hamburger addiction" and a fondness for roast beef. They have no more idea than anyone else what caused their relative to die from CJD. It is helpful to have a reason for death, and it is even better to be able to blame-and if possible sue-the government for prevarication. And if they are sure that it was a beefburger that caused the CJD, well they must be right, mustn't they?
The evidence seems to point in the opposite direction. If the new form of CJD is a direct relative of BSE, then it may have a similar incubation period i.e. two or three years. If this latest case is of a long time vegetarian, the difference in incubation period would suggest, that it was not transmitted from beef. I have heard, although I can't directly quote any evidence, that the number of cases of new type CJD has stabilised. As stated above the conclusion could be drawn that this is, therefore, a mutated form of "normal" CJD.
Sorry this has gone on so long and is such a rant, but I do just feel that there is a lot of bulls*** going around about this subject, and that I ought to say what I think. I'm not even saying that there is no link between BSE and CJD, although I personally don't think that there is, merely that the evidence to suggest it is mostly anecdotal, and, frankly, crap.
