Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)

CJD is a rare disorder in which a patient becomes rapidly demented over a few months and is fatal within 1 to 2 years.  The direct cause is incompletely understood, but the disease is know to result from the deposition of abnormal structures called prion proteins throughout the brain.

There are spontaneous forms and inherited forms.  There is a also a new form known as variant CJD or "mad cow disease" in which the abnormal proteins seem to come form infected meat.

There is no known cure nor effective treatment.