Volume 8: Variant CJD
3. Establishment of the CJD Surveillance Unit
Funding and resources

3.7 Initially, it was agreed that the CJDSU would be funded from 1990 to 1994. However, DH recognised that it might be necessary for the project to continue beyond this. ¹ In the event, DH continued to provide funding after the initial four years, although the responsibility for funding eventually moved from the Research and Development Division to the Health Aspects of the Environment and Food Division in 1996, as the activities of the CJDSU were considered to be inherently surveillance rather than research. ²

3.8 Extra funding for specific developments was awarded in 1991 by DH to set up a neuropathology laboratory and to appoint additional staff to free Dr Will from some of his other commitments. MRC funding was later provided for the strain typing ³ of the CJD cases in farmers, and DH funded the strain typing experiments on the teenage CJD victims in March 1996. ⁴

3.9 An estimate of the total cost of the work at the CJDSU from 1990 to 1996 is £1.8 million, with DH contributing 90 per cent of the funding (see also vol. 10: Economic Impact and International Trade).

3.10 Although Dr Will found the funding for the basic surveillance activities of the CJDSU adequate, the funding from DH and the Scottish Office for epidemiological investigations and statistical analysis was limited, and he had to seek additional funds for these activities. ⁵