19 December 2000
After recent media reports speculating that a Rustenburg woman, Mrs Ronel Eckard, died six months ago as a result of mad cow disease, the Department of Health arranged with the National Institute for Virology to obtain expert opinion on whether available brain tissue samples showed any sign of the disease.
"Mad cow disease" in humans is the popular name for variant Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (vCJD). It is believed to be linked to bovine mad cow disease and transmitted by consuming the meat from infected animals.
There is also a classic form of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD), which is not related to the bovine disease and which occurs in any population at a rate of one case per 1-2 million people every year.
Tissue was obtained by means of biopsy a few weeks before Mrs Eckard's death. At the time a local pathologist at Lancet Laboratory concluded that the lesions in the tissue were indicative of the classic form of CJD but could also signify some other conditions. She found no evidence of vCJD - that is, mad cow disease.
Because of the enormous public interest in this matter, the Department decided to take the precaution of requesting the NIV to secure a further opinion.
Last week Professor Bob Swanepoel of the NIV made arrangements for Dr Sherif Zaki, an eminent histopathologist at the United States Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, to examine the tissue. Professor Swanepoel's report to the Department was received today and it reads as follows:
"Dr Zaki concurs entirely with the report issued in June by Dr de Haas of Lancet Laboratories in Johannesburg: the lesions in the biopsy sample are compatible with CJD, but could be caused by a variety of further conditions.
There are no features in the sections to indicate that this was a case of vCJD, and since the sample is small and limited to one part of the brain no further investigations are possible." No post mortem was performed after Mrs Eckard's death so no other tissue is available for testing.
Dr Zaki's opinion reinforces our earlier assertion that none of the available evidence supports the view that Mrs Eckard died from mad cow disease.
Issued by: Department of Health
Jo-Anne Collinge
Head of Communication Cell number: 082 787 0202