SYDNEY,
Australia (AP)--Health authorities are investigating the death of a 74-year-old
Australian man who is believed to have shown symptoms of the brain-wasting illness
linked to mad cow disease, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The man, who was
not identified, died on March 30 after months of unusual behavior that doctors
told his family may have been symptoms of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the
Sunday Telegraph newspaper said.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has
killed about 80 Europeans since the mid-1990s, mostly in Britain, but no Australian
has tested positive for it.
People are believed to contract the illness
by eating meat products from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or
mad cow disease. It usually manifests itself in humans in the form of depression.
The Telegraph said the man had traveled to Britain and France in 1993
and had eaten meat products during his six-week vacation.
The man's widow,
who did not wish to be identified, said he had acted ``very strangely'' in the
months before his death. ``I thought he was going mad, to be honest,'' she was
quoted as saying.
The Telegraph said doctors are conducting tests on the
man's brain tissue, with a diagnosis expected within a week. |
