Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
CJD is one of several prion diseases including; scrapie, BSE, and Kuru.
There are important differences between sporadic (aka classic) CJD and variant CJD which are summarised in the table below.
There are important differences between sporadic (aka classic) CJD and variant CJD which are summarised in the table below.
| vCJD | CJD | |
|---|---|---|
| Duration (from onset of symptoms to death) | Longer, a year or more | Shorter, few months |
| Symptoms | Psychiatric and behavioural only later neurological | Presents neurologically |
| MRI | Pulvinar sign | Bilateral anterior basal ganglia high signal |
| EEG | Generalised slowing | Biphasic and triphasic waves 1-2 per second |
| Origin | Infected meat products | Genetic mutation (bad luck) |
| Age of onset | Younger people (age 25-30) | Old people (age 55-65) |
