Creutzfeldt-Jakob << KROYTS fehlt YAH kob >> disease is a rare disease that destroys the brain. Two German neuropsychiatrists, Hans G. Creutzfeldt and Alfons M. Jakob, first described the disease in the 1920’s. The earliest symptom is usually loss of memory. Within weeks, visual disturbances, lack of coordination, and muscular jerking occur. Mental and physical deterioration progress rapidly to death, usually within a year. No treatment or cure has been discovered.
Scientists think that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease occurs when a brain protein called prion protein is changed into an abnormal form. In most cases, the cause of the transformation is unknown. The disease strikes about 1 out of 1 million people worldwide, usually between the ages of 50 and 75. In the 1990’s, an unusual outbreak affected people in their teens and 20’s in the United Kingdom. In 1996, British experts announced that these cases might have been caused by eating beef from cattle with a prion disease called mad cow disease. See Mad cow disease; Prion.
