Thousands of vCJD cases in the UK in the next 30 years?
The incubation period of the human form of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalitis or 'mad cow disease'), vCJD, could have an incubation period of as long as 30 years according to leading UK scientist. Professor Collinge, a member of the UK committee which advises the UK government on BSE, claims that the lengthy incubation period could mean that thousands of cases have yet to emerge. He also claimed that the most significant exposure in the UK was probably prior to 1985 and that the cases that have been seen so far are the ones with the lowest incubation period. His comments came following the release of an official report by Dr Phillip Monk, a consultant in public health, which found that the most likely cause of a cluster of vCJD deaths in area in Leicestershire, UK was traditional methods of treating meats by butchers. While stressing that the spread of the disease was not due to any one particular butcher or abattoir, Dr Monk did say that an instrument that was legally used in the 1980s to puncture the membrane around a cow's brain may have infected other meat or instruments.