AT LEAST four further suspected cases of the new variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease are being closely monitored by British research scientists, it was revealed yesterday.
Fears that the increase could foreshadow a sharp rise in the incidence of the disease - of which 14 cases have already been confirmed - came as it was disclosed that relatives of one victim have been granted legal aid to sue the British government.
Most of the applications from solicitors representing victims' families have been rejected. In one case, however, the British Legal Aid Board has issued a certificate for preliminary legal investigations.
The funding will allow lawyers to explore the possibility of suing for negligence over the way in which the authorities handled the BSE epidemic in cattle, and the related disease - known as nvCJD - in humans. "The legal aid covers a limited number of steps," a spokeswoman said yesterday.
With clinical knowledge of the symptoms of nvCJD restricted to relatively few specialists, there is controversy over the diagnosis of new cases. Confirmation can be made only after the patient has died or by biopsy of brain tissue taken from a living sufferer a difficult procedure.
Of the 14 confirmed cases, two are still alive. One recent case involved a 16 year old London gift of Turkish Cypriot origins. Another is a 51 year old man from near Birmingham who died several weeks ago.
Dr James Ironside, the neuropathologist in charge of the British government's CJD surveillance laboratory in Edinburgh, yesterday said his unit was currently monitoring a handful of suspect cases which would probably prove positive.
"It's a small number," he said, "less than five but it is difficult to assess these further cases." With few cases having been diagnosed so far, it was still too early to judge whether it would trigger an epidemic.
"The next year or two will be critical. If the disease has a long incubation period you could be looking at thousands of cases. We can't be sure with any accuracy from the incidence so far."
A policy of secrecy appears to have been adopted by the UK Department of Health concerning the ages of potential victims. Organisations connected with nvCJD suspect that it was authorised to minimise the impact of new cases at a time when the government is trying to stabilise the chaotic meat and farming industry.
There may be more bad news for the British government later this year when the results are due to be announced of experiments in Edinburgh involving brain tissue taken from two farmers who both had BSE cases on their farms.