CJD and ALZHEIMER'S - FRATERNAL TWINS?
Officially CJD occurs once in every million people annually, world wide. This would mean about 6,200 new cases across the globe each year IF this were all the cases of this disease. Saying "if" is not meant to diminish the agony of thousands of victims and their loved ones, but there is concern that some previously diagnosed Alzheimer's cases are really CJD.
There are striking similarities in these two diseases. Both target mainly older people and the primary symptoms of each are dementia, memory loss, depression and death. Some Alzheimer's victims show the same spongy lesions in the brain. Dr. Prusiner who won a Nobel Prize for his work in prion diseases, speculates eventually Alzheimer's may actually be shown to be a TSE. These similarities have caused diagnosis problems possibly severely underrating the occurrence of CJD. Though similar in appearance to Alzheimer's, they have a different protein.
There are varying estimates among doctors and scientists about the real occurrence of CJD. At Yale, six out of 46 patients clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's were proven to be CJD cases at autopsy. In another post-mortem study, three out of 12 Alzheimer patients actually died from a TSE.5
Carleton Gajdusek, recipient of a Nobel Prize for his work with prion diseases, estimates that 1% of all people showing up in Alzheimer clinics actually have CJD.6
A 1989 University of Pennsylvania study showed that 5% of patients diagnosed with dementia were actually dying from CJD.7
A 1991 informal survey of neuropathologists published in the British Journal of Psychiatry put a theoretical range of 2-12% for all dementias actually being CJD.8
According to The Alzheimer's Association, there are approximately 4 million Americans suffering with this disease. Taking the absolute lowest probability of 2% misdiagnosed Alzheimer's cases, it would boost the CJD count to 80,000 just in the States.
Officially CJD occurs once in every million people annually, world wide. This would mean about 6,200 new cases across the globe each year IF this were all the cases of this disease. Saying "if" is not meant to diminish the agony of thousands of victims and their loved ones, but there is concern that some previously diagnosed Alzheimer's cases are really CJD.
There are striking similarities in these two diseases. Both target mainly older people and the primary symptoms of each are dementia, memory loss, depression and death. Some Alzheimer's victims show the same spongy lesions in the brain. Dr. Prusiner who won a Nobel Prize for his work in prion diseases, speculates eventually Alzheimer's may actually be shown to be a TSE. These similarities have caused diagnosis problems possibly severely underrating the occurrence of CJD. Though similar in appearance to Alzheimer's, they have a different protein.
There are varying estimates among doctors and scientists about the real occurrence of CJD. At Yale, six out of 46 patients clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's were proven to be CJD cases at autopsy. In another post-mortem study, three out of 12 Alzheimer patients actually died from a TSE.5
Carleton Gajdusek, recipient of a Nobel Prize for his work with prion diseases, estimates that 1% of all people showing up in Alzheimer clinics actually have CJD.6
A 1989 University of Pennsylvania study showed that 5% of patients diagnosed with dementia were actually dying from CJD.7
A 1991 informal survey of neuropathologists published in the British Journal of Psychiatry put a theoretical range of 2-12% for all dementias actually being CJD.8
According to The Alzheimer's Association, there are approximately 4 million Americans suffering with this disease. Taking the absolute lowest probability of 2% misdiagnosed Alzheimer's cases, it would boost the CJD count to 80,000 just in the States.