BRITAIN: Britain could be on the brink of an epidemic of the brain-destroying disease, variant CJD, as scientists fear that many more people are infected than previously thought.
A study found that a patient who contracted the human form of BSE through a blood transfusion had a crucially different genetic make-up from any known previous victim.
The patient's gene-pairing is found in about half the general population. In these individuals, the incubation period of the disease may be much longer, raising the possibility of a major epidemic of cases occurring at some unknown time in the future.
It had been assumed that just more than a third of the population could develop the disease.
Meanwhile there could be a large pool of symptomless people who do not realise they are carrying the infectious prion protein responsible for both the cattle-brain disease BSE and vCJD.
There is a chance they could transmit the agent to others via blood transfusions or contaminated surgical instruments.
Prof James Ironside, from the UK's National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh, who took part in the study, said: "This finding has major implications for future estimations of numbers of vCJD cases in the UK, since individuals with this genotype constitute the largest genetic subgroup in the population.
"It's absolutely possible that there may be a new epidemic, because the cases we've seen so far may only be those who are unusually susceptible or have the shortest incubation periods.
"I'm not in the business of scaremongering, but quite clearly the idea that this problem is on the way out is unfortunately not the case at all."
The total number of deaths in the UK definitely or probably caused by vCJD now stands at 147, according to the latest government figures issued on Monday.
Most of these victims are thought to have acquired vCJD by eating infected beef in the 1980s. Cases peaked in 2000, when 28 deaths were reported.
Since then the trend has been generally downward, with 17 cases in 2002 and 18 last year.
Scientists have estimated that almost 4,000 people could be harbouring vCJD, based on studies of appendix samples.