- LONDON (Reuters) - The
government said on Thursday it will spend $300 million preventing the
spread of the human form of mad cow disease through contaminated surgical
- The cash will be used to modernise National Health
sterilisation equipment and buy disposable surgical tools, which scientists
say is the most effective way to protect against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (vCJD) spreading in hospitals.
- On the advice of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory
Committee (SEAC), the government will introduce single-use versions of
the specialised equipment used for tonsil surgery. The tools are often
used on children.
- ``We have no evidence of any patient being infected with
variant CJD in hospital,'' Health Minister John Denham said.
- ``But while we are still learning about the progress
of variant CJD, we should take precautions to reduce the theoretical risk
of transmission to patients.''
- Scientists said it was still uncertain how many people
were currently incubating the brain-wasting disease. Variant CJD has so
far claimed more than 80 lives in Britain.
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