Man tested for human mad cow disease
NSW health authorities are conducting tests to confirm if a hospital patient died as the result of a brain disease that may have infected other patients.
Doctors at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle began to suspect on Tuesday that a middle-aged man who died on Wednesday had Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - the human form of mad cow disease.
The man was admitted to hospital 10 weeks ago, suffering neurological symptoms including severe headaches and involuntary muscle movements, and underwent several operations.
Hunter New England Health director of clinical operations, Nigel Lyons, said the likelihood that the patient had CJD was "very remote".
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