Amsterdam  - A Dutch national has died of Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, or mad cow disease, the Dutch Royal Institute for Health and the Environment RIVM said in a statement released on Monday.

The patient died in early January.

Post-mortem investigations performed by the Utrecht Medical Center, the teaching hospital affiliated with Utrecht University, and the Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease expertise centre in Rotterdam, confirmed the patient died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

Creutzfeld-Jacob is a rare disease caused by meat infected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). It is commonly known as mad cow disease.

The RIVM is currently investigating whether the patient may have infected other people prior to his death. Creutzfeld-Jacob can only be transmitted through infected tissue or blood.

The RIVM says the chances the disease was transmitted are "small".

It is the third time a Dutch national has died from Creutzfeld- Jacob disease. Previous deaths were in 2005 and 2006.

The RIVM said Dutch meat can be considered safe because new regulations, implemented in 2001, ensure that all meat is tested for BSE prior to processing for the food industry.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder that is ultimately fatal.

The disease often starts with rapidly progressive dementia, leading to memory loss, personality changes and hallucinations.

Ultimately, all brain nerve cells degenerate, transforming the brain into 'spongy' tissue.

A 2006 study about the disease published in the medical journal The Lancet said it can take up to 50 years for a person to develop the first symptoms of the disease. dpa