Link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease is unclear

The causal link between the bovine spongiform encephalopathy prion and new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is open to question argues a Debate article. Using epidemiological criteria for causality (biological plausibility, strength of association, consistency, temporality of association, specificity, dose-response relation, quality of evidence, and reversibility), Venters (p 858) shows the weakness of the evidence for a link. Furthermore, the rate of growth in the number of cases is much less than would be expected from a foodborne source but is consistent with the improved ascertainment of what until recent years had been a misdiagnosed but extremely rare disease in the United Kingdom.

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Relevant Article

New variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: the epidemic that never was

George A Venters
BMJ 2001 323: 858-861. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]