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Man Dies from Extremely Rare Disease (vCJD) In 2015 After Eating Squirrel Brains - NOT - Sporadic CJD Confirmed

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  • Man Dies from Extremely Rare Disease (vCJD) In 2015 After Eating Squirrel Brains - NOT - Sporadic CJD Confirmed

    Source: https://www.livescience.com/63831-sq...b-disease.html

    Man Dies from Extremely Rare Disease After Eating Squirrel Brains
    By Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer | October 15, 2018 11:53am ET

    A man in New York developed an extremely rare and fatal brain disorder after he ate squirrel brains, according to a new report of the man's case.

    In 2015, the 61-year-old man was brought to a hospital in Rochester, New York, after experiencing a decline in his thinking abilities and losing touch with reality, the report said. The man had also lost the ability to walk on his own.

    An MRI of the man's head revealed a striking finding: The brain scan looked similar to those seen in people with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal brain condition caused by infectious proteins called prions. Only a few hundred cases of vCJD have ever been reported, and most were tied to consumption of contaminated beef in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. (In cows, vCJD is commonly called "mad cow disease.")...

  • #2
    Nope: Published Date: 2018-10-22 11:21:33
    Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Prion disease update (03): USA (NY) vCJD susp, squirrel, human fatality, 2015
    Archive Number: 20181022.6103937
    PRION DISEASE UPDATE (03): UNITED STATES (NEW YORK) VARIANT CJD SUSPECTED, SQUIRREL BRAIN, HUMAN FATALITY, 2015
    ************************************************** ************************************************** ***********
    A ProMED-mail post
    http://www.promedmail.org
    ProMED-mail is a program of the
    International Society for Infectious Diseases
    http://www.isid.org

    Date: 18 Oct 2018
    Source: National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center [edited]



    The information below is a response from the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center in response to the following ProMED-mail post: Prion disease update (02): USA (NY) vCJD suspected, squirrel brain, human fatality, 2015 20181016.6093013.

    "The article reproduced recently in ProMed-mail suggested that a US patient developed variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). This diagnosis was based on MRI results that reportedly appeared similar to those of patients with variant CJD (vCJD). However, all other clinical and demographic evidence (triphasic EEG pattern, patient age, disease duration, and, subsequently, prion protein codon 129 genotype) strongly suggested that this was a case of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD). Indeed, through national human prion disease surveillance, the patient was confirmed through autopsy as sCJD, not vCJD. The reporting of this case as probable vCJD -- a disease linked to consumption of beef contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as "mad cow disease") -- and suggesting that this case might be etiologically linked to squirrel consumption is inappropriate and may cause undue alarm.

    The previous ProMed-mail commentary mentioned a 1997 Lancet report that hypothesized about a potential link between consumption of squirrel brains and CJD; there was no mention of vCJD in that report. Since that brief report, there has been no convincing evidence found suggesting that the consumption of squirrel meat, brain, or otherwise is a risk factor for any prion disease. While prion diseases have been identified in several other types of mammals, they have never been identified in squirrels. Without additional experimental or epidemiological evidence, a link between consumption of squirrel brain and human prion disease is unjustifiably speculative."

    Thank you very much.

    Sincerely,

    Brian Appleby, MD
    Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center
    Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
    2085 Adelbert Rd Rm 419
    Cleveland, OH 44106


    [ProMED-mail is extremely grateful to Dr. Appleby of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center in helping to get the correct information distributed regarding the lack of a link associated with sCJD, or even vCJD, and the consumption of squirrels and/or the brains of those animals. - Mod.TG

    HealthMap/ProMED-mail map:
    New York State, United States: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/234]

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