MADRID , Spain -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Spaniard has died from the human form of mad cow disease , the fifth such death in Spain since 2005 , the Ministry of Health said in a statement late Friday . The victim died in January in the northern city of Santander , according to the statement , which did not provide further details . The victim was a woman who was hospitalized last fall , according to Juan Jose Badiola , director of Spain 's national research center for mad cow disease . The ministry reiterated that there is no danger from eating meat in Spain . `` The appearance of these sporadic cases is within the predictions that were made at the European level more than nine years ago , '' the ministry statement said . Ten years can pass between eating contaminated tissue and the appearance of the human form of the disease also called variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease , health officials say . The steps to avoid the disease , taken after the first cases of mad cow disease appeared in the United Kingdom , include isolating infected animals and prohibiting cattle feed of animal origin or with animal proteins , the ministry said . Three of Spain 's five deaths from the disease were in the northern province of Leon . The city of Santander is in the nearby Cantabria province . Last September , officials reported the death of a woman from the human form of mad cow disease . Officials also said her son had died earlier from the same disease . It was believed to have been the first case in the world where two members of the same family have died from the disease , Badiola told CNN at the time . The mother , in her early 60s , died in August 2008 . Her son , 41 , died in February 2008 , Badiola said . Badiola said it was the mother and son likely contracted the disease before stricter controls against mad cow disease began in Spain in 2001 . The mother and son had similar eating habits , Badiola said , which included eating animal organs , such as kidneys and livers , and they may also have eaten animal brains . The mother and son were from a village in Leon province . The third fatality in that province was a woman , 50 , a local government worker , who died in December 2007 . The first confirmed death from mad cow disease in Spain was in 2005 , when a young woman died near Madrid .