http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7317/0/f
Link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and
Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease is unclear
The causal link between the bovine
spongiform encephalopathy prion and new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is
open to question argues a Debate article. Using epidemiological
criteria for causality (biological plausibility, strength of
association, consistency, temporality of association, specificity,
dose-response relation, quality of evidence, and reversibility),
Venters (p 858)
shows the weakness of the evidence for a link. Furthermore, the rate
of growth in the number of cases is much less than would be expected
from a foodborne source but is consistent with the improved ascertainment
of what until recent years had been a misdiagnosed but extremely rare
disease in the United Kingdom.
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