BRITISH doctors are investigating three new suspected cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease in the area where the first case of mad cow disease in Britain was discovered.
The three victims, all men from the Ashford area of Kent, are being treated at Guy's Hospital, London.
Last month, it was revealed that a 29 year old woman solicitor from Canterbury, died from CJD - the human form of mad cow disease.
Neurologist Dr Alan Colchester, of Guy's Hospital, said his patients "may be the first of many cases" still to come.
Dr Mathl Chandrakumar of the East Kent Health Authority, was cautious about jumping to conclusions. He said: "These are only suspected cases, but when you get it in young people it is difficult. Definite diagnosis cannot always he obtained."
Meanwhile, researchers said yesterday that the death of a Frenchman from a new strain of CJD throws into doubt the causal link with mad cow disease.
The French case was investigated by a team led by Prof Nicolas Kopp, from the Pierre Werthaimer hospital in Lyon.
In a letter published in the Lancet medical journal they noted that the 26 year old man, had no particular contacts with cattle, no family history that might have made him vulnerable to CJD, and had travelled abroad only once in 1990 to the south of Spain.
Unlike Britain, France did not have the high prevalence of BSE which might support the theory of a link with humans.