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Science 22 January 1999:
Vol. 283. no. 5401, pp. 469 - 471
DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5401.469b
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News of the Week

CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE
Diagnostic Test Scores High Marks in Study

Michael Balter

Although only 34 cases of the new human brain disorder linked to eating beef from cattle infected with "mad cow disease"--called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)--have been confirmed in Britain since 1996, no one knows if these are isolated occurrences or the first signs of a major epidemic. Getting a handle on this crucial question has been made more difficult by the lack of a diagnostic test for vCJD. Now, help may be at hand: In the 16 January issue of The Lancet, a team of U.K. researchers reports that sensitive immunological and molecular tests can detect in tonsil biopsies an abnormal protein linked to vCJD.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)