BILTHOVEN, 23/06/06 - A case of the Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has been diagnosed in the Netherlands. It is the second time that the human variant of the mad cow disease BSE has been detected domestically.

Last year, a 26-year-old woman was the first person in the Netherlands to die of the disease. The new patient probably contracted the disease by eating contaminated beef, the National Institute for Public health and the Environment (RIVM) announced yesterday.

The disease is characterised by spongy degeneration of the brain and is caused by particular proteins (prions). It may be years before the disease is diagnosed. Patients generally die within eighteen months.

The disease has previously been discovered in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US. There have been 170 patients altogether, with more than 150 of these in the UK.

The RIVM stressed that Dutch beef is safe, because cattle that may be infected have been tested since 2001. The organs most at risk, brain and spinal marrow, have been destroyed after slaughter since 1997.