A 75-YEAR-old woman died of a rare strain of the human form of CJD which has nothing to do with eating infected meat, an inquest has heard.

The hearing in Blackburn was told that the sporadic form of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) has nothing to do with beef and is a naturally occurring disease which can strike anybody at any time.

The inquest heard that Betty Riding died in Queen's Park Hospital after being brought back to Blackburn from her home in Cyprus by her close friends Ena and Edward Shaw, of Woodlands Drive.

Mrs Shaw told how Mrs Riding's husband, Horace, had died in the same hospital while visiting Blackburn in September.

Mrs Riding, who lived in Walton-le-Dale before moving to the Mediterranean island 12 years ago, insisted on going back to Cyprus following his death.

She needed a cataract operation and Mrs Shaw said her friend was clearly distressed at the thought of that.

Consultant neuro-pathologist at the Royal Preston Hospital, Dr Timothy Dawson, said the post-mortem examination had been extremely limited because of the potential risks of CJD.

The CJD Observation Unit in Edinburgh was involved and a report by Professor Ironside confirmed that there was a degenerative change of the grey matter of the brain. Dr Dawson told the inquest that there are several variations of CJD but the one that had caught the public imagination was Variant CJD.

He said there is good evidence that Variant CJD is contracted through the food chain or through that and a genetic factor.

"Sporadic CJD occurs by pure chance," said Dr Dawson. "It affects one person in a million each year and is not affected by genetic or environmental factors. In Mrs Riding's case it was identified as the sporadic variety."

Dr Dawson said the disease resulted in rapid degeneration, as in Mrs Riding's case. He said the operation on Mrs Riding's eye would have had no bearing on her developing CJD.

"The risk is more to people who followed because it is very difficult to clean the instruments," said Dr Dawson. "I understand the clinicians at Blackburn have warned the hospital authorities in Paphos."

Recording a verdict of natural causes, deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said it had been a one in a million chance that had claimed Mrs Riding's life.

Speaking after the inquest Mrs Shaw described Mrs Riding as a lovely person who had been full of life and extremely fit and healthy for her age.

"After Horace died she was determined to go back to Cyprus where they had made their home for the last 12 years," said Mrs Shaw.

Immediately following the operation Mrs Riding seemed fine but days later Mrs Shaw spoke to her on the phone and noticed a dramatic change.

Doctors in Cyprus said there was something drastically wrong and Mrs Shaw and her husband immediately flew to Cyprus to bring their friend home.

Mrs Riding had worked as a copy typist with Lancashire Police until her marriage in 1950.

Her father had been a policeman and as a child she had lived at local police stations across Lancashire.