Charlene Singh died June 20 at her home in Fort Lauderdale after being ill for several years with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is fatal and incurable. Her family believes she contracted it by eating contaminated meat in Britain more than a decade ago.

Singh, 25, was born and raised in Britain, where an outbreak of the disease hit tens of thousands of cattle in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of the more than 150 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob worldwide have been reported in Britain. Singh moved to Florida with her family in 1992 and became ill in late 2001.

The Japan Times Weekly: June 26, 2004
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