SENATORS: PROBE RACETRACK CLUSTER

"New Jersey's senators, Corzine and Lautenberg, are urging federal scientists to determine whether eating mad cow-tainted meat could have caused a cluster of deaths from the fatal, brain-destroying disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease among people linked to the defunct Garden State Racetrack." Skarbek seems to have picked up another couple of confirmed CJD cases after the NYT Magazine piece; she "has documented 13 deaths among residents of New Jersey and nearby states since 1995, all listed as due to classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease on their death certificates, in track workers and patrons presumed to have eaten at the track's restaurant. Another six deaths also appear to fit the pattern," but they're awaiting confirmation either of the cause of death or the racetrack connection. So it looks like according to Skarbek, we have 13 definites, 19 probables for a one-in-a-million disease.