A student has died of suspected new variant CJD, the human form of BSE.

Andrew John Carter, 27, died just five months after doctors told his family it was "clinically probable" he had the new variant strain of the incurable Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

They decided not to tell Andrew about his suspected condition, instead saying he had a virus.

Today his father Ron said the family were waiting for further tests to be carried out which would reveal whether Andrew was suffering from CJD.

Dr Jim Howe consultant neurologist at Airedale Hospital, who treated Andrew, said he had all the clinical criteria for "probable" CJD.

Dr Howe said: "The CJD Unit in Edinburgh put forward criteria for the disease which is either possible, probable or definite. Andrew had fitted all the criteria for probable CJD and these criteria haven't been wrong in the last 45 reported cases."

He said there had been three other probable cases in the West Riding area and all three had turned out to be CJD. Dr Howe said it could take six to eight weeks for the results of the tests to come back.

Describing her son as a "jolly, happy person", Marilyn, of Laburnum Grove, Cross Roads, Keighley, said: "He was so young and had his whole life in front of him and so much going for him. He had everything that he wanted and everything had fallen into place for him."

Andrew was a first year, mature student studying a degree in IT networking at the University of Westminster. His family first noticed something was wrong when he returned to Haworth for the summer holidays last June.

Marilyn said: "His balance was off and he was depressed. I think we first started to notice things at Easter when we look back. We just put it down to stress because he was stressed with course work."

Andrew's youngest sister, 20-year-old Lynette added: "That just wasn't in his nature."

After being prescribed medication for depression Andrew was referred to the Ingrow Centre and then on to Airedale Hospital.

He was admitted to the psychiatric ward for two weeks and underwent tests, including a CT and MRI scans. A week later the family say doctors told them of their suspicions but they decided to tell Andrew he had a virus. His father Ron said: "That seemed to satisfy him. It's the kind of thing that if you have got it you wouldn't want to know. We knew he was incurable and there was no treatment."

Marilyn added: "At Christmas he was able to sit at the table but then by January 4 we had to have the bed downstairs because it wasn't safe to take him upstairs."

She said last Thursday they stopped getting any response and Andrew died on Sunday.

Coroner's officer at Airedale Hospital, Les Scaife, says the Post Mortem examination had been inconclusive and further tests were being conducted.

An inquest was opened and adjourned yesterday in Bradford and will resume when the tests are completed.

Andrew's funeral will be at St Michael's Church, Haworth, next Wednesday, at 12.15pm

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