But in Morocco, the animal health monitoring system has included BSE since 1997 only. That's one year after France decided to ban the import of Britain beef as British scientists made a link between BSE and the Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans. Since France is Morocco's top supplier of cattle and knowing the incubation time of the prione, the element that links BSE to its human version, it is possible that some animals carrying BSE may have entered Morocco via France. What is further alarming is the announcement made by the neurological service of the Avicennes Hospital in Rabat that it recorded two cases of Creutzfeld-Jakob. Scientists say this disease is rare and touches one per one million.
Victims are often elderly.
Avicennes Hospital says that one of the two victims was a former expatriate who resided abroad. Both victims died. Media sources say the authorities did not bother to investigate these two cases. When asked, officials at the ministry of agriculture say their concern is animal health and so far there is nothing alarming. Inc. All rights reserved.