The drastic measures have helped decrease the disease incidence from a peak of more than 35,000 cases in 1992 to about 1,000 last year. The illness, now called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or vCJD, often causes bizarre changes in the behavior and temper of its victims before leading to dementia, loss of coordination and eventually death. The disease, which can incubate for years before its symptoms develop, has been linked to eating meat contaminated by cattle infected with mad cow disease. So far, the illness has killed more than 80 people in the United Kingdom and stricken several others in France and Ireland. During an emergency meeting last month, European Union officials imposed a temporary ban on all cattle feed containing animal remains and ordered that all cows more than 30 months old would be tested at the slaughterhouse before being allowed to enter the human food supply.
Older cows are more likely to develop the disease, given mad cow disease's long incubation period.
I'm not sure you're ever going to be able to completely eliminate the risk. Produced by Newsday Electronic Publishing.