Is CJD related to eating beef?
Most cases of CJD (sporadic, familial) are not caused by or related to eating beef. Variant CJD (vCJD), more commonly known as “mad cow disease,” is a similar, but entirely different disease. Variant CJD first occurred in the United Kingdom and was linked to eating beef from cattle infected with the animal form of the disease (BSE – bovine spongiform encephalopathy). To date, only one case of variant CJD has been identified in the United States, in Florida in an individual who had lived in the United Kingdom for several years. Only one case of BSE has been reported in the U.S., in a Washington State cow originally from Canada.
