Has CDC initiated increased surveillance efforts to determine whether the newly recognized variant of CJD occurs in the United States?
Yes. In addition to the ongoing review of national CJD mortality data, CDC has conducted active CJD surveillance in its four established Emerging Infections Program areas (Minnesota, Oregon, Connecticut, and the San Francisco Bay area, California) and in a metropolitan Atlanta site. Additionally, with the support of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, CDC conducts follow-up review of clinical and neuropathology records of CJD decedents aged <55 years who are identified through the national mortality data analysis. CDC, in collaboration with the American Association of Neuropathologists, established the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in 1996-1997. This pathology center provides free, state-of-the-art diagnostic services to U.S. physicians. It also helps to monitor the possible occurrence of emerging forms of prion diseases, such as variant CJD, in the United States. For more information about the
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