Officals to name vCJD cause
21 March 2001
Officals to name vCJD cause
By FWi staff
LEICESTERSHIRE health officials are set to reveal the source of the Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) cluster around the village of Queniborough.
Philip Monk, head of an inquiry into why five people with connections to the village contracted the human form of BSE, believes he has found a link.
He is making his findings public at a meeting in Queniborough on Wednesday (21 March) after he has revealed the likely source to the victims relatives.
An spokesman for Leicestershire health authority said Dr Monk had put a great deal into the inquiry, which was launched last July.
This will be reflected in the final report, he said. It will go further than an interim report which concluded only that the common link was likely to be beef.
But Dr Monk has ruled out school meals, baby foods and vaccination as factors. He also said it was unlikely that a single meat supplier was the link.
Queniborough butcher David Clarke told FARMERS WEEKLY the inquiry has established that the victims used different butchers.
Scientist Anne Maddocks, who gave evidence to the BSE inquiry, said the infected meat could have come from a single animal.
She said: “A possible cause is meat sold at a single event like a fair or a football match.”