Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi on Thursday downplayed concerns over media reports that a teenage girl in a Tokyo hospital has new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal brain-wasting illness linked to mad cow disease.
"Some of her symptoms are similar (to those of the disease) but there are also some symptoms that are different, so it cannot be fully determined," Sakaguchi told the health, labor and welfare committee of the Diet's House of Councilors. "Presently, the implication that it is not vCJD is strong."
Sakaguchi was responding to a question by an Upper House member about a report that the girl showed symptoms of vCJD.