Creutzfeld - Jakob Disease

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease or CJD is commonly and erroneously confused with the already mentioned Mad Cow Disease (MCD). Even if it is technically wrong, confusing them is not a big mistake, CJD is the human equivalent of the MCD. Once a human eats “infected” meat it will contract the disease, however since the symptoms and host are different the disease receives a different name, CJD (Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease).

CJD was first discovered by the German neurologist Hans Creuzfeldt when treating one of his patients in 1920. A few years later, in 1922 another German neurologist Alfons Maria Jakob did further studies with other patients with what Creuzfeldt first stated. After all of this processes scientists decided that both had some true statements about the disease and by combining they finally named it: Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Fully understanding MCD might be difficult, but understanding the differences between Mad Cow Disease and CJD is even harder since they are very similar. As we know, MCD is an encephalopathy, actually the most common of the spongiform diseases. Spongiform is a key word to understanding both MCD and CJD. Spongiform is a term used by scientists when a disease is a degenerativeneurological disorder (brain disease) in which the brain starts being “drilled” by different means because whatever is attacking the brain will start drilling it making little holes everywhere around the brain making it look like a sponge, from there we find the name: spongiform.

Now that we know in depth what the disease is, lets focus on the symptoms. (not listed in order of appearance)
1. Progressive Dementia (main difference between MCD and CJD).
2. Loss of memory and movement.
3. Lack of coordination.
4. Visual problems.
5. In some cases depression and insomnia.

It is worthy to notice that the symptoms are very similar to the MCD, that is why people oftenconfuse them, and as stated before is not that much of a big deal. They can be considered “twin” or “sibling” diseases, one of them mutating over the other to take humans as a host.
Some patients do not suffer as much dementia, while others suffer a big loss in memory. That is why some scientists, neurologists and even medics have confused some cases of CJD with Alzheimers.

Unlike other common disease like flu, there is no real way of diagnosing CJD. Until now the only way of ever noticing it is by an autopsy (brain surgery) in which the brain is revealed to the surgeon, he/she will notice that holes are begining to sprout in the brain, and then treat the patient to see what type of spongiform encephalopathy he suffer from. This holes damage the brain making it work “improperly” and that is what causes the dementia on the patient, a small amount of holes aren’t dangerous but once the brain has been “drilled” a lot it can not work properly and that is what causes death. Notice that the most common spongiform encephalopathy is CJD.

It is sad that even if the disease is noticed at an early stage before developing, its almost unworthy since until now a days there is no actual cure for CJD as there is no cure for MCD. Neither is there any treatment to control the disease, what normally is done is that the patient is sent to a mental hospital/madhouse where he is treated properly according to his symptoms.
Over time the spongi will keep spreading. As time passes the brain will be drilled continuously, with no medical treatment being able to stop it, until the brain is so degenerated that it will stop working, leading to the patient’s death.

Having no way to stop this disease is sad and frustrating. Luckily only 1 of one million people contract CJD. It is estimated that there are only around 200 cases of CJD in the United States every year.

Even if the amount of cases are low, this is a disease that should not even exist. Scientists currently do not know how it emerged but have noticed how it happened. It has all been fault of the now common “factory farming”, the unproper treatment given to the cattle has created a disease, a disease that not only affects cattle but has mutates to take a toll on humans.
“Scientists generally agree that BSE is transmitted when cows consume meat scraps from other cows. Farmers in the UK had been using slaughterhouse waste to supplement cattle feed since the early part of the 20th century, and it became common practice to feed offal (discarded animal parts) to livestock throughout Europe and the U.S. within a few decades.

A series of bans on the use of meat and bone meal in cattle and other livestock feed have been enacted in various countries since the first ban was put in place in the UK in July of 1988. Over the course of almost a decade, regulations were enacted to extend “feed bans” in Europe and the U.S. to stop the spread of mad cow disease and protect cattle and humans from its devastating effects.

Unfortunately, loopholes and violations have meant offal is still sometimes fed to cattle, and a few recent cases of mad cow have been identified in cattle born after the feed bans. This is a serious problem. It only takes a piece of infected brain or spinal cord tissue about the size of a single grain of rice (10 milligrams) to transmit BSE from one cow to another. “
By: http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/madcow/

As of now it is worthy of notice that factory farming is behind all of this. All these kind of disease are a product of factory farming and their improper treatments to animals, making them sick and therefore affecting our health too.

This is not how nature meant animals to be used, and if we do not stop it as of now, perhaps we will have more diseases similar to CJD or even worse.

Bibliography:
· http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/madcow/
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease
· http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm#103133058
· http://beyondfactoryfarming.org/get-informed/health/mad-cow-disease-bse


By: Luis Arturo Martinez Silveyra