Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Definition

Variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was first described in a young patient in 1996 and has been reported mainly in the United Kingdom and other European countries. vCJD is thought to be caused by oral intake of food contaminated with materials from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). vCJD patients has steadily decreased in number in parallel with reduction of number of BSE cattle. There have been cases of vCJD due to blood transfusion from donors with vCJD.

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