The United Kingdom’s National CJD Surveillance Unit reported in The Lancet that the number of people who died from vCJD continued to fall in 2002.
Last year 17 people in Great Britain died from the disease, compared to 20 in 2001 and 28 in 2000. Since 1995, 122 people have been killed by vCJD and another eight people who are still alive are believe to be infected with the prion disease that is linked to the consumption of meat contaminated with a bovine version of the disease. So far in 2003, one death has been linked to vCJD.
The big question is whether or not vCJD deaths will continue to decline. Dr. Robert Will, who heads up the UK CJD Surveillance Unit told the BBC,
That mortality is no longer increasing exponentially is encouraging. However, to conclude that the epidemic is in permanent decline would be premature.
In animal studies, for example, the incubation rate of vCJD-like diseases varies widely between individuals, so it is possible that the number of cases could begin to increase sometime in the future.
Source:
CJD cases ‘in decline’. The BBC, February 28, 2003.