London - Deaths from the human form of mad cow disease are expected to increase by up to 30 per cent over coming years, the head of a government panel of experts on the disease warned yesterday. Between two and four more people will probably die from new variant CJD in addition to the 10 to 15 deaths currently experienced each year, said Prof Peter Smith, acting head of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. He said this was borne out by a "statistically significant" increase in cases.