THIS NEWSLETTER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. NOTHING IN THIS CONTENT CONSTITUTES MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. ALWAYS CONSULT A QUALIFIED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY HEALTH RELATED DECISIONS.

OKAY BACK FROM THE NEUROLOGY WARD 🏥

Variant CJD Is A Rare And Fatal Prion Disease In Humans

It Results From The Infectious Agent Of Mad Cow Disease Or BSE

A Patient In The United States Became Ill In Late 2012

That Patient First Had Depression And Anxiety

Delusions And Hallucinations Appeared Soon After

Over The Next Months The Patient Became Withdrawn And Secretive

Aggression And Poor Judgment Were Also Reported

Doctors Later Diagnosed Probable Variant CJD

Strong Evidence Pointed To Contaminated Beef Outside The US

That Likely Exposure Came More Than A Decade Before Onset

An Earlier Likely Case Was A 22 Year Old Woman In Florida

In 2001 She Was Evaluated For Depression And Memory Loss

By December She Had Involuntary Movements And Trouble Walking

The Next Month She Was Diagnosed With A Panic Attack

Her Emergency Room Brain Scan Showed No Abnormalities

She Was Prescribed Antianxiety Medications

A BMJ Study Looked At The First 100 UK Patients With Variant CJD

Their Early Stages Were Dominated By Psychiatric Symptoms

Common Early Features Were Withdrawal And Anxiety

Insomnia And Loss Of Interest Were Also Common

63 Of The 100 Patients Saw A Psychiatrist During The Illness

Neurological Symptoms Came First In 15 Percent Of Cases

The Median Age At Onset Was 26 Years

Psychiatric Features May Appear Alone Or With Sensory Changes

Those Include Limb Pain And Abnormal Sensations

Neurological Signs Typically Develop Around Six Months

Worsening Unsteadiness And Visual Problems Are Among Them

So Are Cognitive Decline And Involuntary Movements

At The End Many Patients Can No Longer Move Or Speak

In The Brain The Most Striking Feature Is Florid Plaques

Numerous Plaques Lie Within The Cerebral And Cerebellar Cortex

They Are Often Surrounded By Spongy Tissue Changes

Variant CJD Lasts Much Longer Than The Sporadic Form Of CJD

Its Mean Illness Length Is About 14 Months

Sporadic CJD Cases Lasted 4 Months By Comparison

By The 16th Month The More Recent US Patient Had Left Arm Paralysis

Within A Month That Patient Was Entirely Bedridden

That Patient Died Almost 18 Months After Onset

The Florida Patient Was Given Quinacrine For 3 Months

Little Improvement Followed The Experimental Treatment

She Remained Mute And Unable To Move

Death Came In 2004 About 32 Months After Onset

CJD Is Incurable And Inevitably Fatal

Early Studies Suggested Variant CJD Came From Eating The BSE Agent

Experiments Mostly In Animals Later Confirmed That Link

Strong Evidence Ties Variant CJD To Eating Offal From Infected Cattle

The Evidence Points Particularly To Brain And Spinal Cord

Among Cattle Recycling Contaminated Material Expanded The Epidemic

Starting In 1988 The UK Brought In Rigorous Control Measures

Ruminant Feed Could No Longer Contain Ruminant Protein

All Cattle Suspected Of Having BSE Had To Be Slaughtered

The UK Banned Feeding Specified Cattle Offal To People Or Farm Animals

Cattle Over 30 Months Old Were Removed From The Food Chain

Annual UK Cattle Cases Rose From 446 In 1987 To 37,280 In 1992

After 2010 Fewer Than 10 Were Reported Each Year

There Were 232 Recognized Human Cases Worldwide As Of 2024

Of Those Cases 178 Were In The UK

The Human Epidemic Peaked In The Early 2000s

No New UK Cases Have Been Reported Since 2016

The Last Known UK Patient Died That Year

Italy And France Reported The Three Most Recent Cases Worldwide

Each Was Likely Due To Exposure At Work

Researchers Say More Cases In The Future Are Not Impossible

A Large Outbreak From Diet Is Now Far Less Likely

Food Chain Controls Essentially Eliminated That Risk

Apart From Milk And Blood Many Nations Ban Ruminant Protein In Feed