National
Two deaths in Castilla y León confirmed to be from Mad Cow disease
By h.b.
Apr 7, 2008 - 3:25 PM

The death of two people aged 41 and 50 in Castilla y León has been confirmed today to have been caused by Creutzfeld-Jakob, Mad Cow disease. Experts in Spain now consider that more cases are likely to be detected here over the next few months.

Juan José Badiola director of the centre which investigates the disease in Spain has called for calm. He said that both the victim probably ate the infected meat more than eight years ago. Indications are that they were infected before 2001.

The deaths follow that of a 26 year old woman in Madrid back in 2005.

The exact localities of the new deaths has not been revealed, but the Castilla y León health department say that one death was in December 2007 and the other on Feb 7 this year. Neither of those to die was a farmer.

Acting Minister for Agriculture, Elena Espinosa, sent a message of ‘calm and guarantee’ regarding beef on the market in Spain, saying that quality and tracking controls had been in place for more than ten years to stop the contamination.