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Health officials have confirmed a rare “100% fatal” Mad Cow-like brain disease has struck three people in the same county in Oregon. It is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and it typically results in death within a year.
According to a Hood River County Health Department press release, over the past eight months, there have been two confirmed and two probable cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. So far, in two of the three cases, the people have passed away.
What makes these cases so unusual is the fact usually only one to two cases of CJD per million people are diagnosed in the entire world each year. The United States typically sees only 350 cases annually. For three cases to appear in a county of just 23,000 people in such a short span of time significantly goes against expected probability.
The Hood River County Health Department states that “at this time, there is no identifiable link between these three cases.” They also report that “the risk of getting CJD is extremely low. It does not spread through the air, touch, social contact, or water.”
That’s a good thing because the symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease are rather brutal.
The Mayo Clinic explains CJD is marked by changes in mental abilities and that the dementia symptoms worsen rapidly, usually within several weeks to a few months.
Those symptoms include personality changes, memory loss, impaired thinking, blurry vision or blindness, insomnia, problems with coordination, trouble speaking, trouble swallowing, and sudden, jerky movements. People who get CJD usually die from medical issues associated with the disease such as having trouble swallowing, falling, heart issues, lung failure, and/or pneumonia or other infections.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) states CJD “belongs to a family of diseases known as prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).”
“Spongiform refers to the way affected brains look. With prion diseases, the brain is filled with holes and looks like a sponge when the tissue is examined under a microscope,” the NINDS explains.
It can be acquired by gene mutations that can run in families, by exposure to infected brain or nervous system tissue through certain medical procedures, eating infected beef, or by, well, they don’t know. In about 85% of the cases, it just happens and there is no explanation.
Content shared from brobible.com.