Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease death, United States.
The only variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) patient identified in the United States died in 2004, and the diagnosis was confirmed by analysis of autopsy tissue. The patient likely acquired the disease while growing up in Great Britain before immigrating to the United States in 1992. Additional vCJD patients continue to be identified outside the United Kingdom, including 2 more patients in Ireland, and 1 patient each in Japan, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the Netherlands. The reports of bloodborne transmission of vCJD in 2 patients, 1 of whom was heterozygous for methionine and valine at polymorphic codon 129, add to the uncertainty about the future of the vCJD outbreak.
Belay
Ermias D
ED
Division of Viral and Rickettsial Disease, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA. ebelay@cdc.gov
Sejvar
James J
JJ
Shieh
Wun-Ju
WJ
Wiersma
Steven T
ST
Zou
Wen-Quan
WQ
Gambetti
Pierluigi
P
Hunter
Stephen
S
Maddox
Ryan A
RA
Crockett
Landis
L
Zaki
Sherif R
SR
Schonberger
Lawrence B
LB
D000328:Adult; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States