Fears of "mad cow" disease spread
{{U}}(1) {{/U}} the globe last week {{U}}(2) {{/U}} South
Africa, New Zealand and Singapore joining most of Britain' s European Union
partners in {{U}}(3) {{/U}} imports of British beef. In London, steak
restaurants were empty follwing the March 20 announcement by scientists that
they had found a {{U}}(4) {{/U}} link between mad cow disease from
British beef and its human {{U}}(5) {{/U}}, Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease(CJD) . Efforts to reassure consumers and governments proved {{U}}(6) {{/U}}. France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Greece were among countries which announced bans {{U}}(7) {{/U}} British beef shipments. A committee of EU veterinary experts, meeting in Brussels, {{U}}(8) {{/U}} new protective measures but said transmission of the disease from cattle to humans was unproven and did not {{U}}(9) {{/U}} a general ban on British beef exports. Britain's own main consumer group advised people to {{U}}(10) {{/U}} beef if they wanted to be absolutely sure of not {{U}}(11) {{/U}} CJD which destroys the brain and is always {{U}}(12) {{/U}}. "Could it be worse than AIDS?" The stark headline in Friday's Daily mail newspaper encapsulated the fear and uncertainty {{U}}(13) {{/U}} Britain. CJD {{U}}(14) {{/U}} humans in the same way that BSE makes cows mad—by eating away nerve cells in the brain {{U}}(15) {{/U}} it looks like a spongy Swiss cheese. The disease is incurable. Victims show {{U}}(16) {{/U}} of dementia and memory loss and usually die {{U}}(17) {{/U}} six months. Little is known {{U}}(18) {{/U}} sure about the group of diseases known collectively as spongiform encephalopathies, which explains {{U}}(19) {{/U}} some eminent scientists are not prepared to {{U}}(20) {{/U}} a human epidemic of AIDS-like proportions. |