MSNBC.com reports that five cases of the rare Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) have been discovered in Idaho. The cases have resulted in five deaths.
The mystery has deepened in recent weeks. Only at the end of May did local health officials see a second elderly woman die of the incurable disease involving a malformed protein, or prion, that kills brain cells. After that, they learned of three other suspected cases, including a CJD death in February that was reported only last month.
vIs what is happening in Idaho an anomaly, a statistical fluke? That is possible," said Ermias Belay, a top CJD expert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta who is helping advise officials in Idaho. "But once it exceeds 1.5 or 2 per million, you start asking questions."
"If they are all confirmed, it could be odd."
In a year, the United States typically sees fewer than 300 CJD cases, which mete out rapid death to the elderly, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The article says that health experts have so far found no links among the victims who were all women. Health experts are trying to track down the cause of the disease with locals asking questions about Mad Cow. The article also says that experts do not expect to find a Mad Cow link. The relationship between CJD and Mad Cow (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)) can be confusing because there are two types of CJD: CJD, classic and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is the one that the CDC says is related to BSE or mad cow disease. All three of the disease are prion diseases. More about these three disease can be here on the CDC's website.
