HC Deb 12 December 1996 vol 287 cc317-8W
Mr. Martyn Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the onset times of the cases of the new variant of CJD by month; and if he will make a statement. [7948]

Mr. Horam

The month and year of onset for the 14 cases of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease confirmed by the national CJD surveillance unit up to the end of November 1996, listed in order of onset, are:

  1. 1. January 1994
  2. 2. February 1994
  3. 3. March 1994
  4. 4. June 1994
  5. 5. July 1994
  6. 6. August 1994
  7. 7. December 1994
  8. 8. January 1995
  9. 9. January 1995
  10. 10. January 1995
  11. 11. March 1995
  12. 12. July 1995
  13. 13. August 1995
  14. 14. January 1996

Cases can be confirmed only by examination of brain pathology. Normally this is done post mortem, and in the rare cases where a positive brain biopsy is obtained this is not possible until fairly late in the course of the disease. Therefore there is a long delay between the date of onset—the date of the first clinical symptoms related to CJD—and the date of confirmation. The median duration of illness in these cases is 14 months.

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