Case of human mad cow disease in Portugal

Lisbon, Feb 22: A girl in Portugal has been identified as possibly having the human form of mad cow disease, the country's second such case, the Health Ministry said.

''There is laboratory evidence of a probable second case of the variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease in a young Portuguese girl,'' the Ministry said in a statement. It did not identify the girl or give her age.

Scientists believe the disease, that destroys the brain, is caused by eating beef products from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as BSE, or mad cow disease.

In 2005, Portugal's health authorities said they had found the human form of mad cow disease in a young boy -- the country's first identified case of the disease in humans.

Reuters