Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Also called: CJD

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Basics

Summary
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Diagnosis and Tests

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Related Issues
Specifics
Genetics

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Summary

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, degenerative brain disorder. Symptoms usually start around age 60. Memory problems, behavior changes, vision problems, and poor muscle coordination progress quickly to dementia, coma, and death. Most patients die within a year.

The three main categories of CJD are :

Sporadic CJD, which occurs for no known reason
Hereditary CJD, which runs in families
Acquired CJD, which occurs from contact with infected tissue, usually during a medical procedure

Cattle can get a disease related to CJD called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease." There is concern that people can get a variant of CJD from eating beef from an infected animal, but there is no direct proof to support this.

NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (Alzheimer's Association)
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Prion Diseases) (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Diagnosis and Tests

Diagnosing Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Accuracy of CSF 14-3-3 Protein Test of the Spinal Fluid (American Academy of Neurology) - PDF

Related Issues

Information for People Treated with Pituitary Human Growth Hormone (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Kuru (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
Relationship with BSE (Mad Cow Disease) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD): Risk for Travelers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Specifics

Frequently Asked Questions on BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease) (Department of Agriculture) - PDF
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Genetics

Prion disease: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Statistics and Research

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Prion Diseases (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Prion Diseases (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

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Patient Handouts

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

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MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

National Institutes of Health

The primary NIH organization for research on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Disclaimers

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