Italian CJD victim dies

Italy has recorded 104 cases of BSE

The only Italian to have been diagnosed with the human form of mad cow disease has died in hospital.

The 27-year-old Sicilian woman had been treated for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease for several months at a hospital in Milan.

It is not known where or how she contracted the brain-wasting illness.

However, Italy has recorded 104 cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle since 2001 when the European Union ordered mandatory tests on older animals.

More than 100 people have died of vCJD worldwide, mostly in the UK.

Experts say the disease is contracted by eating meat infected with BSE, which is itself spread by recycling meat and bones from infected animals and grinding them into feed.