MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

BSE in humans: Spain reports first death

Spain's Health Ministry confirmed Friday that it is “highly likely” the death earlier this month of a woman in Madrid was caused by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease variant, the human equivalent of what is popularly known as mad-cow disease.

Health and Consumer Affairs Minister Elena Salgado said that while an autopsy of the 26-year-old Madrid woman who died July 10 indicated she apparently suffered the human variant of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, but the last word belongs to lab specialists from Edinburgh, where samples have been sent for testing.

EU protocols indicate that labs in Edinburgh are responsible for the final diagnosis which should be known in a couple of weeks.

An epidemiological background on the woman indicates she hadn't spent much time outside of Spain, never received blood transfusions, but did and for a short time work in a Madrid University animal health laboratory.

Minister Salgado said it "was an isolated case" which represented no public health risks since all meat consumed in Spain strictly complies with European Union safety standards set up following the outbreak of BSE in the eighties in Britain.

BSE was first discovered in UK in the mid eighties causing 150 deaths among 167 reported cases since 1996 and February 2005. Countries which have had proven cases include Japan, France, United States, Ireland, Italy and Canada.

BSE is thought to spread among livestock when the protein content of the rations fed is made out of animal remains and carcasses.

Humans are exposed to BSE infection, which can lie dormant in the bloodstream for up to 20 years, by eating contaminated beef.