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China - CJD incidence 2006/2007 18 Oct 20008 BMC Public Health online [edited] [Promed] Surveillance for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in China from 2006 to 2007 Background Human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (HTSE), or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), is a group of rare and fatal diseases in the central nervous system. Since outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and variant CJD, a worldwide CJD surveillance network has been established under the proposition of WHO. In China, a national CJD surveillance system has started since 2002. The data of CJD surveillance from 2006 to 2007 was analyzed. Methods A total of 12 provinces are included in the CJD surveillance system. The surveillance unit in each province consists of one or 2 sentinel hospitals and the provincial CDC. All suspected CJD cases reported from CJD surveillance were diagnosed and subtyped based on the diagnostic criteria for CJD issued by WHO. Results A total of 192 suspected CJD cases were reported and 5 genetic CJD, 51 probable and 30 possible sporadic CJD (sCJD) cases were diagnosed. The collected sCJD cases distribute sporadically without geographical clustering and seasonal relativity, and the highest incidences in both probable and possible sCJD cases appeared in the group of 60-69 years old. The most common 3 foremost symptoms were progressive dementia, cerebellum and mental-related symptoms. The probable sCJD patients having both typical EEG alteration and being CSF protein 14-3-3 positive have more characteristic clinical syndromes than the ones having only one positive. The polymorphisms of codon 129 of all tested reported cases show typical patterns of Han Chinese, as in previous reports that M129M is predominant, whereas M129V is rare. Conclusion Chinese CJD patients possessed similar epidemiological and clinical characteristics as the population worldwideJapan – Mad Cow Disease21 Dec 2007 Xinhua News Agency [edited] The Fisheries Ministry said on Friday [21 Dec 2007] that a cow in northern Japan's Hokkaido had been tested positive for mad cow disease. It was the 34th case of mad cow disease confirmed so far in the country. According to the ministry's press release, the 15-year-old cow was born in western Japan's Shimane Prefecture and was raised in Hokkaido. After it was killed on Wednesday [19 Dec 2007], the beef was tested positive for mad cow disease during check-up by a local meat inspection institution. The result was confirmed shortly after. The cow was the oldest one in all the mad cow disease cases in Japan. Japan - BSE may be linked to milk: report 17 Dec 2007 MeatingPlace.com - Ann Bagel Storck http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=19462 Some of the animals in Japan infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy may have contracted the disease from alternative milk containing Dutch-made fat, according to an investigation by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kyodo News Service reported. The investigations examined 32 of the 33 animals in Japan confirmed to be infected with BSE. The ministry said the disease found in 13 of those animals was highly attributed to alternative milk made from powdered animal fat produced by a feed plant in the Netherlands, according to Kyodo. The 13 cows were born in the Hokkaido or Kanto regions between 1995 and 1996. Alternative milk, which uses mostly skim milk as its basic ingredient, is fed to baby cows up to seven weeks after they're born. The ministry added that the results of the investigations are not definite, as Dutch and other reports have denied animal fat as a cause of BSE, Kyodo reported.

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