New case of CJD detected

CJD is an incurable form of 'mad cow disease'

A second case of CJD - the human form of "mad cow disease" - has been diagnosed in Northern Ireland.

It is understood the man who has contracted the disease is in a stable condition.

He is being cared for at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Consultant neurologist at the hospital, Dr Tom Esmond, said there was no evidence the disease was becoming more widespread.

"When a case is recognised anywhere in the UK the National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh is informed of the existence of the case," he said.

"They then send out their research registrar to gather further information.

"CJD is not infectious in the usual sense of the word. The disease can be transmitted to man in a laboratory through special injection methods, but not in the form of normal human contact."

Northern Ireland's first victim of new variant CJD, Maurice Callaghan, died in 1995.

His widow, Clare, has campaigned for a care package for the families of sufferers.

Last year, researchers in Israel claimed to have developed a simple diagnostic test for variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD).

Variant CJD - a fatal degenerative disease affecting the brain - is hard to distinguish from other degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

Doctors often cannot be sure that a person has vCJD until after a postmortem examination.