Volume 16: Reference Material
3. Statistics
BSE cases by year of birth

3.18 Figure 3.34 below shows the number of confirmed BSE cases broken down by year of birth, as at end-June 2000. It should be noted, however, that a quarter of the total is made up of cases whose year of birth is unknown. Even so, given that the majority of these are likely to have been born in the 1970s and 1980s, the pattern of a rapid decline in the late 1980s and 1990s still holds good.

3.19 The appearance of cases born as early as the mid- to late 1970s is consistent with some hypotheses put forward by Professor Roger Morris of Massey University in New Zealand, whose research suggests that BSE could have emerged as a point source around this time (see vol. 2: Science).

Figure 3.34: Total number of confirmed cases of BSE by year of birth*