"Jim Webster" > wrote in message ...
> "Rubystars" > wrote in message
> . com...
> >> > note that when people have their tonsils out, these are now, in many
> parts
> > > of the UK if not all of it, tested for nvCJD.. The idea being that these
> > > tissues are among the first parts to become infective and therefore will
> > be
> > > a useful marker as to the number of cases. So far none have come up
> > >infected
> >
> > If they can't do anything to cure the person or prevent onset of the
> > disease, then what's the point?
> it is quite simple. We are monitoring a population, which is rather bigger
> and probably more important than a person. If the disease is not present in
> a population, then the person cannot get it. If the disease is present in a
> population, then it is a risk to the individuals.
> Also remember that there have been claims that millions of UK citizens will
> die. When we callously refused to die and thus put a lot of lobby groups
> noses out of joint. So they said actually we were just incubating it and
> would all die later (which is in a way true, everyone dies later) so they
> run these tests on tonsils and discover that in our brutally uncooperative
> way, we aren't even incubating it.
>
> Jim Webster

'..the director of the UK CJD Surveillance Unit warned that current
tests might vastly under-represent the risk of infection.

Professor James Ironside told the BBC last night that the tests were
not sensitive enough to identify all those infected with the human form
of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

He said: "Because of the nature of the specimens used in the study
we have had to employ a technique that is not as sensitive as other
methods that are currently available so in some ways even this finding
might be an under-representation of the actuality in terms of infection
with BSE."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/bse/articl...795882,00.html