( CNN ) -- Mad cow disease has caused a fourth death in the United States , health officials say . Lab tests have confirmed that a patient in Texas who recently died had Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease . Variant CJD is a fatal brain disorder linked to eating beef from cattle with mad cow disease , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a press release . Variant CJD was first identified in the United Kingdom in 1996 , according to the CDC . Worldwide more than 220 cases have been reported , the majority in Europe . CDC officials said this is only the fourth case to be reported in the United States , and that each U.S. infection is believed to have happened while the patient was traveling abroad . The Texan patient traveled `` extensively '' to Europe and the Middle East , the CDC said . `` There are no Texas public health concerns or threats associated with this case , '' the Texas Department of State Health Services posted to its website . Variant CJD is different than what the CDC calls classic CJD , which is not related to mad cow disease . Classic CJD strikes less than 400 Americans each year . It is also fatal . Case of CJD confirmed in New Hampshire . Mad cow disease is officially called bovine spongiform encephalopathy , or BSE . Animals with BSE have infectious prions in their brain , spinal cord and some parts of the central nervous system . These prions can be spread to humans who eat those specific parts of the cow , or who eat meat that has come in contact with infected tissue or that has been processed in contaminated machinery . Eating meat contaminated with the disease is thought to be the cause of Variant CJD in humans . The first case of mad cow disease was confirmed in a cow in the United States in December 2003 . Mad cow disease fast facts . CNN 's Thom Patterson contributed to this story .
Patient in New Hampshire who recently died had Thom Patterson . Variant CJD is brain disorder linked to beef from cattle with mad cow disease . Americans patient traveled extensively to Middle East , Europe , CDC says .