Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (Print Version)

Also called: Also called: CJD

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.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Start Here

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm
Also available in Spanish http://espanol.ninds.nih.gov/trastornos/laenfermedad_de_creutzfeldt_jakob.htm
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Prion Diseases)(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - Short Summary - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tse/tse.htm
vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/qa.htm

Overviews

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - Short Summary - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/cjd.htm
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (Mad Cow Disease)(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease/DS00531/METHOD=print&DSECTION=all
Prion Diseases(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) - http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/prion/

Latest News

Malaria Drug Doesn't Boost Survival Odds with Prion Diseases(03/11/2009, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_81577.html

Specific Conditions

Prions and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies(Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition) - http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/prion.html
Questions and Answers on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy(Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research) - http://www.fda.gov/cber/bse/bseqa.htm
vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/

Related Issues

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: Production and Inspection(Dept. of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service) - http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Bovine_Spongiform_Encephalopathy_Mad_Cow_Disease/index.asp
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (Variant) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Prion Diseases): Health Information for International Travel(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/yellowBookCh4-VariantPrions.aspx
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Fact Sheet for Healthcare Workers and Morticians(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/cjdprecautions.htm
Information for People Treated with Human Growth Hormone (Summary)(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/creutz/update.htm
Kuru(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - Short Summary - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/kuru/kuru.htm

Financial Issues

Compassionate Allowances(Social Security Administration) - http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/

Genetics

Genetics Home Reference: Prion disease(National Library of Medicine) - http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=priondisease

Research

Pressure Combined with Heat Reduces Prion Infectivity in Processed Meats(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/press_releases/pressrelease_prion_infectivity_050503.htm

Journal Articles

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

Article: Characteristics of established and proposed sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease variants. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19204157&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19046027&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Enhanced geographically restricted surveillance simulates sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease cluster. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19042933&tool=MedlinePlus
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=creutzfeldt-jakob+syndrome[majr]+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+AND+(jsubsetaim[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text]+OR+jsubsetk[text]+OR+review[pt]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+clinical+trial[pt]+OR+patient+education+handout[pt]+OR+systematic[sb])+NOT+(editorial[pt]+OR+letter[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus
Mad cow disease -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=encephalopathy,bovine+spongiform[majr]+AND+english[la]+NOT(case+reports[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+letter[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Organizations

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - http://www.cdc.gov/
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/spanish/
Dept. of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - http://www.aphis.usda.gov/
Food and Drug Administration - http://www.fda.gov/
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/
Also available in Spanish http://espanol.ninds.nih.gov/

Statistics

BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/bse/

Children

Mad Cow Disease(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/mad_cow_disease.html
What's Mad Cow Disease?(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/mad_cow_disease.html

Teenagers

Mad Cow Disease(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/bacterial_viral/mad_cow_disease.html

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Brain and Nerves - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/brainandnerves.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/