Macao woman who had brain surgery in Hong Kong likely has Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
A 51-year-old female Macao resident who had undergone a brain operation in a private hospital in Hong Kong on September 19, has been diagnosed with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), according to a Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health press release Dec. 6.
According to the health authority of Macao, the woman who developed progressive dementia with limbs spasm, unstable gait, muscle twitching and visual disturbance suggestive of CJD, has been admitted to a hospital in Macao on October 30. Her clinical diagnosis was sporadic CJD and the patient is now in severe condition.
Upon notification of this report, the CHP followed the international practice and advised the hospital to contact the patients who had undergone procedures using the same set of instruments as the patient since September 19.
A CHP spokesman said, “CJD is a rare disease that affects the brain and is thought to be caused by the build up of an abnormal, transmissible protein called ‘prion’ in the brain.”
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Classic CJD is a human prion disease. It is a neurodegenerative disorder with characteristic clinical and diagnostic features. This disease is rapidly progressive and always fatal. Infection with this disease leads to death usually within 1 year of onset of illness.
The prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and all its variants, kuru and Gerstmann-Staussler-Scheinker syndrome.
Though not fully characterized, a prion is an abnormally folded protein which can have long incubation times of many years.
Human prion disease can be acquired through diet, medical treatment, surgery or blood transfusion and some are considered genetic. There is no treatment for human prion disease.
Since CJD is not transmitted through casual contact, isolation of patients is not necessary. To prevent the disease from spreading, tissue or organ transplant from any CJD patients or re-use of potentially contaminated surgical instruments should be avoided.
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very sad, for all involved, for decades to come, I am sorry. I submit the following in good faith, I lost my Mom to hvCJD, ‘confirmed’. …kindest regards, terry…
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Small Ruminant Nor98 Prions Share Biochemical Features with Human Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease and Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy
Research Article
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2013/07/small-ruminant-nor98-prions-share.html
Thursday, January 17, 2013
TSE guidance, surgical, dental, blood risk factors, Part 4 Infection control of CJD, vCJD and other human prion diseases in healthcare and community settings (updated January 2013)
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2013/01/tse-guidance-surgical-dental-blood-risk.html
Sunday, June 9, 2013
TSEAC March 14, 2013: Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee Meeting Webcast
http://tseac.blogspot.com/2013/06/tseac-march-14-2013-transmissible.html
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Late-in-life surgery associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: a methodological outline for evidence-based guidance
http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2013/05/late-in-life-surgery-associated-with.html
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Spreading of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease by cell-to-cell transmission
http://tauopathies.blogspot.com/2013/06/spreading-of-tau-pathology-in.html
there was no information for the public in 1997, on the TSE prion disease. I just made a promise to mom…
with kindest regards,
terry
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