/ Source: Reuters
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control said on Tuesday the risk of American consumers contracting a human form of the deadly mad cow disease was ”extremely small.”
Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, said in testimony prepared for a Senate panel hearing that federal agriculture officials have taken steps to reduce the risk of humans contracting variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a form of the brain-wasting disease.
“There is a possibility that domestically-acquired variant CJD may appear in the United States. However, this possibility is believed to be extremely small,” Gerberding said.
In 2002, a woman living in Florida was diagnosed with variant CJD but contracted it while living in Britain, according to the CDC.