Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease symptoms and treatments

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is marked by rapid mental deterioration, usually within a few months. Initial signs and symptoms of CJD typically include:<br /><br />Personality changes<br />Anxiety<br />Depression<br />Memory loss<br />Impaired thinking<br />Blurred vision<br />Insomnia<br />Difficulty speaking<br />Difficulty swallowing<br />Sudden jerky movements<br />As the disease progresses, mental symptoms worsen. Most people eventually lapse into a coma. Heart failure, respiratory failure, pneumonia or other infections are generally the cause of death. The disease usually runs its course in about seven months, although a few people may live up to one or two years after diagnosis.<br /><br />In people with the rarer vCJD, psychiatric symptoms may be more prominent in the beginning, with dementia &mdash; the loss of the ability to think, reason and remember &mdash; developing later in the course of the illness. In addition, this variant affects people at a younger age than classic CJD does, and appears to have a slightly longer duration &mdash; 12 to 14 months.<br /><br />Most cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease occur for unknown reasons, and no risk factors can be identified. However, a few factors seem to be associated with different kinds of CJD.<br /><br />Age. Sporadic CJD tends to develop later in life, usually around the age of 60. Onset of familial CJD occurs only slightly earlier. On the other hand, vCJD has affected people at a much younger age, usually in their late 20s.<br />Genetics. People with familial CJD have a genetic mutation that causes the disease. The disease is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, which means you need to inherit only one copy of the mutated gene, from either parent, to develop the disease. If you have the mutation, the chance of passing it on to your children is 50 percent. Genetic analysis in people with iatrogenic and variant CJD suggest that inheriting identical copies of certain variants of the prion gene may predispose a person to developing CJD if exposed to contaminated tissue.<br />Exposure to contaminated tissue. People who've received human growth hormone derived from human pituitary glands or who've had dura mater grafts may be at risk of iatrogenic CJD. The risk of contracting vCJD from eating contaminated beef is difficult to determine. In general, if countries are effectively implementing public health measures, the risk is very low. For example, in the United Kingdom the current estimated risk of acquiring vCJD from beef and beef products appears to be about 1 case in 10 billion servings. The risk from beef in other high-incidence countries is estimated to be very low, as well.<br /><br />As with other causes of dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease profoundly affects the mind as well as the body, although CJD and its variants usually progress much more rapidly. People with CJD usually withdraw from friends and family and after a while lose the ability to recognize or relate to them in any meaningful way. They also cannot maintain the ability to care for themselves, and many eventually dive into a coma. The disease ultimately will be fatality.  <img src="http://theblogbooster.com/pixel.gif" width="0" height="0" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " alt="" /><div class="zemanta-pixie"><img class="zemanta-pixie-img" alt="" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=0441b137-9d5a-4778-902b-1b8cb2236219" /></div>