As many as one in 2,000 people living in the UK may be at risk of developing the brain disease, dubbed “mad cow disease”, it was claimed today.
Researchers say these people are carrying variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease proteins, and are at risk of developing the disease.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in the UK emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, thought to be a result of human exposure to infectious bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions via contaminated meat.
Experts led by Professor Sebastian Brandner, of University College London, UK, say it is likely that many people could be in a "subclinical" state of infection due to widespread low dose exposure.
The team carried out a survey of 32,441 appendix samples from UK hospital pathology departments. Sixteen of the samples tested positive for abnormal prions. The rate among people born from 1941 to 1960 was similar to that of people born from 1961 to 1985, and was similar in both sexes and across the three geographical areas sampled.
Full details of the survey are published today in the British Medical Journal. The team conclude: "This study corroborates previous studies and suggests a high prevalence of infection with abnormal prion protein, indicating vCJD carrier status in the population compared with the 177 vCJD cases to date."
They add that these findings "have important implications for the management of blood and blood products and for the handling of surgical instruments".
However, it remains unclear how much risk there is that carriers can transmit the disease via blood, and UK health agencies have taken steps to safeguard the supply of donated blood.
Gill. O. N. et al. Prevalent abnormal prion protein in human appendixes after bovine spongiform encephalopathy epizootic: large scale survey. BMJ 16 October 2013 doi: 10.1136/bmj.f5675 [abstract]
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