How do humans acquire creutzfeldt-jakob disease or any prion disorders?
By far the most common (but still rare): Creutzfeld Jakob Disease (CJD) can be hereditary–the usual example is an hereditary disease most common in Sepharidic (particularly Libyan) Jews. This is known as familial CJD. Close to 15% of all cases are hereditary. Or sporadic CJD–the result of a spontaneous gene mutation or perhaps just sponeous conversion of the prion protein to the misfolded, aggregated state. 85% of all cases. The above two sources kill about 5000 people per year in the United States. Last I heard only one American had developed the disease originating with mad cow disease (vCJD), a woman who used to live in the UK. Rare: Cannibalism I believe is where it was first observed–the disease is called Kuru, the tribe is the Fore of Papua New Guinea. People caught it from eating the brains of cannibalism victims. And of course mad cow disease (vCJD in humans)–by eating cows (or potentially other animals). Not all the cow–just the brain or spinal tissue. Obviously this is m
