Mad cow disease is serious business in the U.K., the human form, known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob after Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt and Alfons Maria Jakob (CJD), who independently first described its existence in humans, (more commonly known as variant CJD, or vCJD), has killed 176 people in that country since 1995, and worse, authorities suspect that thousands more may have it right now. Fortunately, it appears that a blood test has been developed that can identify the prion involved, which until now has only been identifiable via brain autopsies, or sometimes through tonsil biopsies.
