Mad Cow Disease Kills British Man

Tests have confirmed that a brain ailment linked to mad cow disease killed a British man, hospital officials said Saturday.

The 27-year-old victim had been infected with Cruetzfeld-Jakob disease in Britain, and died three months ago while visiting relatives in Spain, said Manuel Carnero, a spokesman for the University Hospital of Malaga, about 250 miles south of Madrid. Carnero refused to identify the man.

Cruetzfeld-Jakob disease is the human equivalent of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Humans can be infected by eating the meat of infected animals.

The brain disorder has killed 16 people in Britain and one in France.