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Cape Docs: Mad-Cow Link Unlikely

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Jul 21, 2008 3:33 pm US/Eastern

Cape Docs: Mad-Cow Link Unlikely

BOSTON (AP) ― An elderly patient in a Cape Cod hospital has tested positive for a degenerative brain disorder, but officials say she's not showing signs of a variant linked to mad cow disease.

Massachusetts health officials say the patient, who is in her 70s, has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fast-progressing illness that leads to dementia, movement disorders and ultimately death.

Officials now will try to determine which form of the disease she has. In very rare cases it can be caused by consuming meat products from cows infected with mad cow disease.

However, health officials say that is unlikely in this case, given the woman's age and travel history.

Dave Riley, a spokesperson for Cape Cod Hospital, said that hospital officials have been told there was no cause for concern and that the illness was not contagious.

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