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The number of people in Britain who have succumbed to vCJD, the human form of
mad cow disease, has reached 100. “It’s of great concern,” says Peter Smith,
chair of the government’s Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. Last
year saw 27 cases, the largest number yet, and 16 have already been reported
this year, says Roy Anderson, an epidemiologist on the committee. Smith warns
that elderly victims of the disease may have been missed. “Only around 3 per
cent of the elderly with dementia have full post-mortems,” he says. Only one
elderly patient is among the 100.