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Three cases of a mad cow - alike disease with a 100 % human death pace have been report in a unmarried county in Oregon .
Within the last eight months , health official have confirmed one case and identified two likely case of the uncommon brain disease , agree to astatement released by the Hood River County Health Departmenton April 14 . Hood River County is settle south of the Columbia River on the Washington - Oregon edge . Two of the people with the stipulation have exit , the department reported .
One case was confirmed by autopsy , while the other two are presumptive , The Oregonian reported . Trish Elliott , theater director of the health section , told The Oregonian that the presumptive cases can only be confirm after death by probe brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid — the clear fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal corduroy — and she said this process can take calendar month .
" At this time , there is no identifiable liaison between these three cases , " the health department added .
The mad cow - like disease report in Oregon is calledCreutzfeldt - Jakob disease(CJD ) , named for two German doctors who first described the circumstance in the twenties . The disease impacts around 1 to 2 people per million worldwide , and the United States experience roughly 350 cases a year . About 23,000 to 24,000 people live in Hood River County , agree to nosecount data , so realise three CJD cases dress up is statistically unusual .
link : Here ’s how dangerous , deadly prions spread to the brain
Like mad moo-cow , CJD is a prion disease , have in mind it ’s induce by abnormally folded proteins that damage brain tissue paper ; in CJD , this do poriferan - similar cakehole to form in the genius . The prions also cause normal proteins in the nous to turncoat , transforming into prion that then inflict further damage .
The disease can cause a slew of symptoms , including confusion , freak out , hallucination , deficiency of coordination and brawniness gracelessness , along with personality change , new - onset psychological trouble , and seizures . The symptoms progress quickly , leave behind people with the disease unaware of their environment and unable to commune . The disease isalways black , withabout 70 % of those affected dyingwithin a twelvemonth of diagnosing .
The most common type of CJD is " sporadic , " meaning normal proteins in the brain spontaneously transform into prions for strange cause . The next most common type is genetic , activate by inherited mutations in a cistron calledPRNP . The gene carries didactics to make prion protein ( PrP ) , which is known to be active in the genius but whose normal functions are n’t fully translate . Some studies hint the normal version of PrP may help protect neurons from injury and pattern link between neurons .
Perhaps the most famous form of CJD is the rarefied , however , calculate for less than 1 % of case . It involves prions enter the body from outside source . For representative , this can go on if a individual eats beef cattle from cows that havebovine spongiform encephalopathy(BSE ) , better known as " unrestrained cow disease;“only seven cases of BSEhave ever been detected among moo-cow in the U.S. Another potential source of prions is through medical exposure , such as a person getting a transplant or blood transfusion from a donor with CJD .
To keep case of " acquired " CJD , the U.S. has hadstrict agricultural regulation in place since the 1990sto keep mad cow - affected beef out of the food for thought supply . There are alsoinfection control guidelines to forestall the transmitting of CJDthrough aesculapian subprogram .
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The Hood River County Health Department has not harbinger which eccentric of CJD is in all likelihood implicate in the recent cases , but Elliott narrate The Oregonian that they do n’t think infected cattle are the cause . And again , it appears that the three cases are n’t linked to one another , the section noted .
" The risk of getting CJD is highly low , " the section ’s statement emphasized . " It does not spread out through the air , jot , societal contact , or body of water . "
This clause is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer aesculapian advice .
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