The following is from a ProMed posting

--
SN
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CJD (NEW VAR.) - JAPAN: DEATH
*****************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

[1]
Date: Fri 4 Feb 2005
From: Akira Goto >
Source: Kyodo News on the web, Fri 4 Feb 2005 [edited]
<http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/display.jsp?an=20050204911>


Japan: 1st Japanese Case of Human Variant of Mad Cow Disease
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare stated on Fri 4 Feb 2004 that
it
has confirmed Japan's first case of the human variant of mad cow disease
[variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - abbreviated as CJD (new var.) or
vCJD
in ProMED-mail]. The patient, who is already dead, was in Britain for
about
a month around 1990, the Ministry stated. About 150 people have died due
to
the disease in Britain.

--
Akira Goto
>

******
[2]
Date: Fri 4 Feb 2005
From: ProMED-mail >
Source: alertnet online, Reuters report, Fri 4 Feb 2005 [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T38429.htm>


Japan: 1st Death from Human Mad Cow Disease
---------------------------------------------
Japan confirmed on Fri 4 Feb 2005 its 1st case of the human variant of
mad
cow disease [variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(vCJD)], a fatal brain
disease thought to be contracted by eating infected beef. The Health
Ministry said that a Japanese man had died last December [2004] from
vCJD,
adding that he probably contracted the fatal illness during a month-long
stay in Britain in 1989.

"I know that this will make many people worry, but we must take note of
the
fact that his stay was only one month," Tetsuyuki Kitamoto, a Tohoku
University professor and Head of the Ministry panel on the disease, told
a
news conference.

More than 160 people, most of them in Britain, have died worldwide from
definitive or probable vCJD after eating meat contaminated with mad cow
disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Britain
has been the worst hit by BSE, which is thought to be transmitted among
animals via feed containing bovine brains or spinal cord. Around 7
million
animals had been slaughtered in Britain by the end of June 2004 under a
scheme aimed at preventing the spread of the infection.

Japan has reported 14 cases of BSE and began testing all its cattle for
the
disease after the first case in September 2001. It also banned imports
of
Canadian beef in May 2003 and of U.S. beef in December 2003 after cases
of
BSE were found in those countries, and is in drawn-out talks on when to
lift the ban.

Cases of vCJD have also been reported in France, Canada, Ireland, Italy,
the United States and China [Hong Kong S.A.R.], Health Ministry
officials
said. In all cases outside of Europe, victims are believed to have
contracted the disease during stays in Britain, but a one month period
would be the shortest stay reported so far, the experts on the health
ministry panel said.

The Japanese man, who was in his 40s when he first showed symptoms of
the
disease in December 2001, had no record of blood transfusions or brain
surgery -- other ways in which the disease could be transmitted. The
Health
Ministry sought to calm any fears among the Japanese public, issuing a
statement saying that the disease is not transmitted among humans under
regular living conditions. Doctors on the panel said people could
consult
physicians, but added that at present, there was no way to determine
whether a person would show symptoms or to stop the progress of the
disease.

Scientists estimate the incubation period for vCJD as 10 to 20 years.

(By George Nishiyama and Isabel Reynolds)

--
ProMED-mail
>

[Some aspects of this first case of vCJD in Japan are intriguing. The
age
of the patient, who is older than the majority of cases of vCJD. The
brevity of the period of exposure to infection, if infection is assumed
to
have occurred during the one month sojourn in Britain. The improbability
of
infection having occurred in Japan where only a very few cases of BSE
have
been recognised. As an atypical prion has been associated with some
cases
of BSE investigated in Japan, it may be possible to establish
conclusively
where the exposure to infection occurred. - Mod.CP]

[see also:
2004
----
CJD, genetic susceptibility 20041112.3064
CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2004 (14) 20041206.3242
CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2004 (01) 20040106.0064
CJD (new var.) - France: 8th case 20041022.2864
CJD (new var.) - France: 9th case 20041123.3138
2003
----
CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2003 (13) 20031216.3072
CJD (new var.) - Italy (05): death 20030809.1969
CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2003 (01) 20030108.0057
BSE - Japan 20030119.0181
BSE - Japan (02) 20030122.0199
BSE - Japan (03) 20030123.0205
BSE - Japan (04): atypical 20031007.2511
BSE - Japan (05): atypical 20031008.2526
BSE - Japan (06): atypical 20031009.2547
BSE - Japan (07): 9th case 20031105.2742
BSE - Japan (08): 9th case, lab findings 20031115.2838
BSE - Japan: source 20030202.0292
BSE - Japan: source (02) 20030828.2167
2002
----
CJD (new var.) - UK: update Dec 2002 20021207.5997
CJD, possible association with BSE 20021129.5921
CJD (new var), susp. case - Italy (Sicily) (04):conf 20020927.5418
CJD (new var.) - Canada (SK) ex UK (02) 20020809.5010
CJD (new var.), suspected - USA (FL) ex UK 20020419.3989
CJD (new var.) - France: sixth case 20020418.3983
CJD (new var.) - China (Hong Kong): confirmed 20020222.3604
CJD (new var.) - UK: update Jan 2002 20020111.3223
2001
----
CJD (new var.) - UK: 9th Annual Report 20010628.1231
1999
----
CJD (new var.), human - Ireland 19990715.1192]
........................cp/mpp


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Scented Nectar wrote:

> The following is from a ProMed posting
>
It's the first DOCUMENTED case. Probably not the first.