vCJD claims fourth life in France

PARIS, France -- A 31-year-old man is believed to be France's fourth victim to have died of the brain wasting human version of mad cow disease, a victims' association has said.

The man, who has not been named, first showed symptoms of the disease in July 2001 and died late last week, an association spokesman told The Associated Press on Friday.

He first showed symptoms of the disease in July 2001 and died late last week, AP added.

However, the brain-wasting disease can only be confirmed by a biopsy performed after death.

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Three people in France have already died of the disease variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), and a fifth is believed to be infected.

In Britain, more than 100 people are thought to have contracted the ailment, which is the human form of the so-called mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

France and other European Union countries banned all British beef exports following Britain's first confirmed case in 1996, but the restrictions were later lifted after new safety measures were introduced and evidence was introduced to show that mad cow disease was dwindling in Britain.

A report, published by the French Senate nine months ago, indicted that the country could face up to 300 cases of vCJD during the next 60 years.

"The most pessimistic theoretical forecast on contamination risks in France... shows the worst could be a risk of 300 cases (of vCJD) in the next 60 years, taking account of the incubation period," the report said.

"This would mean the annual number of cases would be five, which shows the very limited development of the new variant."

But researcher Annick Alperovitch at the National Health and Medical Research Institute (INSERM) said the findings were optimistic, calling its approach "simplistic."

Epidemiological projections have put the maximum number of cases in Britain at up to 130,000.