BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Britain's Health Protection Agency said Monday it is investigating whether the human form of mad cow disease can be passed on through dental procedures.
Government scientists will use mice to discover whether they can catch variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) from contaminated dental instruments.
The three-year experiment, begun recently, was announced at the agency's annual conference at the University of Warwick.
The main routes of transmission of the disease, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans, are believed to be eating infected beef, or through blood transfusions.
The aim is to give the Department of Health more guidance on the risks posed by vCJD in dentistry and to determine whether stricter advice on the best cleaning methods needs to be issued.
At the moment experts believe the risk is very small, but want to carry out controlled tests to confirm this.
"This is really an information gathering exercise," said Joanne Dickinson, one of the researchers.
When the experiments are concluded, she added, "the Department of Health will have the information to decide what the level of risk is and what measures need to be put in place."
An estimated 75 million dental procedures are conducted in the UK each year and that two million of these are invasive root canal treatments.
The study will involved around 30 dental practices in the South West of England. Enditem
(Agencies)
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