Doctor's statement causes mad cow scare in South Africa

publiziert: Sonntag, 10. Dez 2000 / 16:02 Uhr

Johannesburg - The doctor of a South African woman has claimed that his patient, who died of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), may have suffered from the human form of mad cow disease, it was reported Sunday.

Ben Makgale from the Impala mine hospital in the town of Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg, said his patient, Ronel Eckard, 35, died of the brain disease five months ago, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. "There could be a link, but we can't say for sure. We have to prove it beyond doubt," Makgale said.

If Eckard is proved to have been infected with mad cow disease, it could have far-reaching effects on South Africa's beef industry. An outbreak of the disease in Europe in the past four years has led to 89 deaths and bans on beef exports from European countries, the newspaper said. The newspaper said it has obtained a copy of the pathological report on Eckard's death, which says Eckard died of "spongiform encephalitis appearing to suggest CJD". However, it does not state whether she had "variant" CJD (vCJD) the human form of mad cow disease, the Sunday Times report said.

According to the newspaper, Gangaram Hariparsad of Lancet Laboratories, which conducted tests for the pathology report, said: "We could confirm that it was CJD, but we could not differentiate which variant it was." Eckard's husband, Ken, said she has never travelled outside South Africa. She became ill in February this year and died on June 22, the Beeld newspaper reported.

"She got up one morning and started losing her balance. Eventually she could not use her legs or arms, speak or swallow," her husband told the newspaper. Agriculture spokesman Moses Mushi told the Sunday Times: "There is no way a person in South Africa can die of vCJD because strong measures have been put in place to stop the import of meat from Europe."

(la/dpa)

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