Human form of Mad Cow confirmed in Hong Kong

Hong Kong banned British beef over vCJD fears in 1996

By CNN's Rose Tang

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Britain has confirmed Hong Kong's first suspected human form of mad cow disease is compatible to European cases.

Doctors believe brain scans and a series of acute symptoms showed a 34-year-old Chinese woman contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob (vCJD), the human form of mad cow disease.

Neurologist Richard Kay, who is treating the woman at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, said a brain scan on the woman showed high signals in the deep part of the brain.

"This is the only thing not normal. It is characteristic of vCJD," Kay told CNN, adding that other tests on brain waves and spinal fluid had normal results.

The United Kingdom National CJD Surveillance Unit confirmed to Kay that the Hong Kong case was "compatible and probable" of vCJD after Kay emailed the patient's brain scan results to the Edinburgh-based laboratory.

When asked if the Hong Kong case might be Asia's first vCJD, Kay said: "We understand so."

The U.K. CJD Unit was unavailable to comment on the Hong Kong case.

The woman has a combination of all five main symptoms of vCJD such as pain in limbs, stiff muscles, loss of memory and inability to express herself and walk steadily, according to Kay.

The patient, whose identity has not been disclosed, has lost speech ability but is in a "stable condition", said Kay.

She was admitted to the hospital in May, seven months after falling ill in October 2000.

No definite confirmation

Kay said there's no definite confirmation if the woman has vCJD as the disease can only be confirmed by an examination of the brain after death.

But the hospital hasn't sought the family's permission for an autopsy should she die.

A vCJD patient usually lives for about a year after the symptoms start to show, Kay said adding that the hospital was considering more tests.

The woman lived in Britain between 1987 and 1992. She returned to Hong Kong to and went back to Britain in 1997.

She came to Hong Kong early this year for treatment, according to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority.

The Hospital Authority has stressed the patient never donated blood -- a possible means to spreading the disease - -during her stays in Hong Kong, which banned British beef over vCJD fears in 1996.

People are believed to contract the disease by eating meat from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease.

Kay says the hospital is discussing with the Hong Kong government to step up surveillance of the disease.

The Hospital Authority was unavailable to comment on Friday.

About 100 people, mostly Britons, have contracted vCJD, and estimates of final toll range from hundreds to millions of victims.