It fits fairly well with diet but we are not sure why younger people, and not older ones, are going down with it. Most scientists are convinced that eating contaminated beef is the most likely mode of transmission. Both diseases are caused by tiny mutated brain proteins called prions that are normally present in the brain and other tissues. The illness develops when the proteins fold in an abnormal way. They multiply, clump up and cause the brain to become spongy and wither.
Sufferers become confused, lose their coordination and slowly deteriorate and die.
Death usually occurs about a year to 18 months after the onset of symptoms. Cases are confirmed by a pathological exam after death. But he said even if one is developed it will cause ethical dilemmas because a diagnosis means certain death. After a while the Ministry of Agriculture got itself to such a point that it couldn't go back and say we were wrong.