Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a rare, degenerative, and fatal brain disease that can occur in people. The disease damages brain cells and the spinal cord. There is now strong scientific evidence that the agent responsible for the outbreak of prion disease in cows, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or ‘mad cow’ disease), is the same agent responsible for the outbreak of vCJD in humans.

How does a person get vCJD? vCJD is not passed from person to person. However, it can be passed from someone with vCJD to others through blood transfusions, though this is extremely rare. It can also be passed onto people who eat BSE-infected cow parts or beef. In Canada, to date, there have been 16 reported cases of BSE in cows. No part of these cattle has entered the human food supply. None of the reported cases of vCJD resulted from eating Canadian beef. (www.healthlinkbc.ca)

Prevention: To avoid and prevent the spread of BSE, contaminated material is not fed to cows raised for human consumption in most countries including Canada, the United States, and the UK.

Treatment: No effective treatment exists for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or any of its variants. A number of drugs have been tested and have not shown benefits. Treatment involves supporting the patient with physical and occupational therapies. A person with vCJD eventually becomes confined to bed and must be fed by a tube. For that reason, doctors focus on alleviating pain and other symptoms and on making people with these diseases as comfortable as possible.