Title: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management strategies in the People's Republic of China

Authors: Shalu Darshan, Daniel Krewski, Michael G. Tyshenko

Addresses: McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada. ' McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada; Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8M5, Canada. ' McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada

Abstract: During the late 1970s, the People|s Republic of China (PRC) launched a series of far-reaching economic reforms in rural areas of the country in order to develop a market economy; after three decades, these nationwide reforms have achieved enormous success. The country witnessed phenomenal growth in its economic development and became the second largest exporter in the world by 2005. With the growing economy, food safety in the PRC has become both an important domestic and international issue. To date, China has witnessed no domestic cases of either bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human version of BSE. However, recent outbreaks of food poisoning from contaminated pork and chicken have prompted the government to promulgate additional measures designed to enhance food safety, including various BSE preventive measures. China established a national CJD surveillance program in year 2002, and participates in an international CJD surveillance network.

Keywords: transmissible spongiform encephalopathy; bovine spongiform encephalopathy; BSE; variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; vCJD; China; risk management; mad cow disease; variant CJD; food safety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2010.035273

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2010 Vol.14 No.3/4, pp.304 - 320

Published online: 18 Sep 2010 *

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