MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First case mother and son mad cow deaths confirmed in Spain

The mother of a Spanish man who died from mad cow disease also succumbed to the illness, announced on Thursday the Spanish Ministry of Health.

It is believed to be the first case in which two members of the same family have died from the ailment, said Juan Jose Badiola, director of Spain's national research center for mad cow disease. The mother, in her early 60s, died last month. Her son, 41, died in February from the same disease, Badiola said. Their names were withheld. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow is a variant of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The latest confirmed case makes a total of four deaths in Spain from mad cow disease since 2005 according to official statistics. Three of the deaths, including the mother and son, took place in the Castialla-Leon area, about 200 miles northwest of Madrid. Badiola said that it's likely the mother and son contracted the disease before stricter controls against mad cow disease began in 2001 in Spain. He said the pair had similar eating habits which included eating animal organs, such as kidneys and livers, and perhaps animal brains. Researchers also will try to determine whether they shared a genetic structure that might have made it easier for them to catch the disease, Badiola said. Spanish Health Ministry authorities said it is common for the first symptoms to appear five or even 10 years after a person contracts the disease.