title: Understanding Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
abstract: The "mad cow disease" that decimated cattle in England has brought wide-spread attention to a similar disease in humans, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). This has led to concerns about the transmissibility and contagiousness of the infectious agent from possible CJD patients to health care workers and family members. Despite these worries, the occurrence of CJD in the human population has remained stable over the years at an incidence of about one person per million in the United States population, and increasing to six individuals per million for the older-than-60 age group. This article will review the etiology, clinical manifestations, and potential for transmission of this unusual infectious agent.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, USA.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Rickman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017053:Infection Control; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors