Nation IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : 4 States to Track Mad Cow Disease

Four states will begin tracking a mysterious brain illness in Americans as a precaution after Britain’s mad cow disease scare. Doctors at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said there is no sign that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is occurring more frequently among Americans. Nor has mad cow disease been detected in the United States. Surveillance of the illness will begin immediately in Minnesota, California, Connecticut and Oregon, the disease center announced. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a fatal brain infection that afflicts one in 1 million people a year worldwide.