More accurate mad cow test is developed

Published on Thursday 5 July 2007 12:06

SCIENTISTS have developed a technique that could help in the diagnosis of mad cow disease, it was revealed today.

The screening process for the brain condition is not completely reliable and can lead to people being wrongly told they are suffering from CJD - the human version of the disease.

But researchers at Edinburgh University have come up with a way of confirming whether someone has fatal levels of abnormal proteins, thought to cause CJD.

Prof Ironside, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit at the university, said: "By developing a reliable confirmatory test, such as this one, the impact of false positives can be minimised."

There have been 161 deaths from variant CJD since 1990.