Question: What is (are) Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ?
Answer: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare fatal brain disorder that usually occurs later in life and runs a rapid course. In the early stages of the disease, patients may have failing memory, behavior changes, impaired coordination, and vision problems. As CJD progresses, mental deterioration becomes severe, and they can have uncontrolled movements, blindness, weakness, and go into a coma. This condition often leads to death within a few weeks or months after symptoms begin. About 90 percent of patients do not survive for more than one year. In the United States, about 300 people are diagnosed with this condition each year. It occurs in approximately one in every one million people worldwide. CJD can be very difficult to diagnose because it is similar to other forms of dementia. The only way to confirm the diagnosis is to test a small sample of brain tissue, which can be done by brain biopsy or autopsy. CJD is caused by the build up of abnormal prion proteins in the brain. For most patients, the reason for the abnormal prions is unknown (sporadic CJD). About 5 to 10 percent of cases are due to an inherited genetic mutation associated with CJD (familial CJD). This condition can also be acquired through contact with infected brain tissue (iatrogenic CJD) or consuming infected beef (variant CJD). There is no specific treatment for CJD, so the goal is to make a person as comfortable as possible.
Source: GARD

Question: What are the symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ?
Answer: What are the signs and symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease? Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is characterized by rapidly progressive dementia. Initially, patients experience problems with muscular coordination; personality changes, including impaired memory, judgment, and thinking; and impaired vision. People with the disease also may experience insomnia, depression, or unusual sensations. CJD does not cause a fever or other flu-like symptoms. As the illness progresses, the patients mental impairment becomes severe. They often develop involuntary muscle jerks called myoclonus, and they may go blind. They eventually lose the ability to move and speak and enter a coma. Pneumonia and other infections often occur in these patients and can lead to death. There are several known variants of CJD. These variants differ somewhat in the symptoms and course of the disease. For example, a variant form of the disease-called new variant or variant (nv-CJD, v-CJD), described in Great Britain and France-begins primarily with psychiatric symptoms, affects younger patients than other types of CJD, and has a longer than usual duration from onset of symptoms to death. Another variant, called the panencephalopathic form, occurs primarily in Japan and has a relatively long course, with symptoms often progressing for several years. Scientists are trying to learn what causes these variations in the symptoms and course of the disease. The Human Phenotype Ontology provides the following list of signs and symptoms for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. If the information is available, the table below includes how often the symptom is seen in people with this condition. You can use the MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary to look up the definitions for these medical terms. Signs and Symptoms Approximate number of patients (when available) Increased CSF protein 5% Anxiety - Apathy - Aphasia - Autosomal dominant inheritance - Confusion - Delusions - Dementia - Depression - Extrapyramidal muscular rigidity - Gait ataxia - Hallucinations - Hemiparesis - Irritability - Loss of facial expression - Memory impairment - Myoclonus - Personality changes - Rapidly progressive - Supranuclear gaze palsy - Visual impairment - The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) has collected information on how often a sign or symptom occurs in a condition. Much of this information comes from Orphanet, a European rare disease database. The frequency of a sign or symptom is usually listed as a rough estimate of the percentage of patients who have that feature. The frequency may also be listed as a fraction. The first number of the fraction is how many people had the symptom, and the second number is the total number of people who were examined in one study. For example, a frequency of 25/25 means that in a study of 25 people all patients were found to have that symptom. Because these frequencies are based on a specific study, the fractions may be different if another group of patients are examined. Sometimes, no information on frequency is available. In these cases, the sign or symptom may be rare or common.
Source: GARD

Question: What are the treatments for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ?
Answer: How might Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease be treated? There is no treatment that can cure or control Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Researchers have tested many drugs, including amantadine, steroids, interferon, acyclovir, antiviral agents, and antibiotics. Studies of a variety of other drugs are now in progress. However, so far none of these treatments has shown any consistent benefit in humans. Current treatment for CJD is aimed at alleviating symptoms and making the patient as comfortable as possible. Opiate drugs can help relieve pain if it occurs, and the drugs clonazepam and sodium valproate may help relieve myoclonus. During later stages of the disease, changing the persons position frequently can keep him or her comfortable and helps prevent bedsores. A catheter can be used to drain urine if the patient cannot control bladder function, and intravenous fluids and artificial feeding also may be used.
Source: GARD