Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

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

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Food and Drug Administration Food and Drug Administration
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Clinical Trials

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

Start Here

• 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

Patient Handouts

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Medical Encyclopedia

Diagnosis and Tests

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

Specifics

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

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

Encyclopedia

• Kuru Medical Encyclopedia

Genetics

• Prion disease: MedlinePlus Genetics National Library of Medicine

Journal Articles

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease