Dutch health officials have confirmed that a 26 year old dutch woman has been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of Mad Cow. Jan van Wijngaarde, an inspector with the Health Ministry, said the woman's "prognosis is poor." The un-named patie is believed to have contracted the disease by eating tainted beef, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Bas Kuik, Health Ministry spokesperson, said the woman, has never lived outside the Netherlands, was most likely infected before 1997, when the country introduced tight restrictions on beef imports. "Beef in the Netherlands is safe because all susceptible cows are tested for BSE when they are slaughtered," the ministry statement included. 149 people in Britain, and another 10 in other countries including Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Ireland, and Japan, are known to have contracted the disease |
