Woman Dies From Mad Cow Disease

A woman in Miramar believed to have contracted mad cow disease several years ago in England has died -- the first such death in the United States, health officials said.

Charlene Singh, 25, was diagnosed two years ago with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of the brain-wasting illness known as mad cow disease. Singh lived in England until 1992.

No deaths related to the disease have been previously reported in the United States, said Llelwyn Grant, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No Americans are known to have contracted the disease in this country, although one case of disease has been reported in a cow.