PERSPECTIVES
Falling necropsy rates
Falling necropsy rates and risks to public health
1 Department of Neuropathology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK
2 Division of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Waney Squier
waney.squier@clneuro.ox.ac.uk
Perspective on the paper by Verity et al (see page608)
Keywords: child; necropsy; public health
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Dr Verity and his colleagues publish the results of their continuing study of progressive intellectual and neurological deterioration (PIND) in childhood1. The most surprising aspect of this study is the low rate of necropsies in this carefully followed group of children; only four of the 46 deaths were examined after death. This is an obstacle to detection of variant CJD (vCJD). Although most of this group of children had undergone investigations in life that allow a "probable" diagnosis to be made in the adult population, detailed neuropathological study remains the only way to confirm this diagnosis. Although the annual incidence of new cases of variant CJD has declined overall since 1999, more onsets have been observed in 2004 than in 2003, suggesting that it is premature to assume that this disease will soon disappear.2 Furthermore, the age specific incidence of variant CJD has remained essentially unchanged
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Articles
-
A brief digest of the July issue
Arch. Dis. Child. 2006 91: e1.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- No clinical evidence of hidden vCJD in UK children
- C M Verity, A M Winstone, L Stellitano, A Nicoll, and R G Will
Arch. Dis. Child. 2006 91: 608-609.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
