Originally published October 18 2005
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease raises fears in Idaho
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
This year, nine reported cases of suspected sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a brain-wasting illness, have appeared in Idaho, causing alarm among state and federal health officials who have yet to uncover any cause for the sudden rise in cases of the disease's sporadic form.
From the moment Joan Kingsford first saw her husband stagger in his welding shop, she wanted two things: His recovery and to know what made him sick.
Alvin Kingsford, 72, died recently of suspected sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the fatal brain-wasting illness.
State and federal health officials are trying to get to the bottom of nine reported cases of suspected sporadic CJD in Idaho this year.
Sporadic, or naturally occurring, CJD differs from the permutation dubbed variant CJD, which is caused by eating mad-cow-tainted beef and has killed at least 180 people in the United Kingdom and continental Europe since the 1990s.
"One thing is very clear in Idaho _ the number seems to be higher than the number reported in previous years," said Dr. Ermias Belay, a CJD expert with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Normally, sporadic CJD only strikes about one person in a million each year, with an average of just 300 cases per year in the United States, or just over one case a year in Idaho.
Still, federal and state health officials are stopping just short of calling the Idaho cases a "cluster," waiting for final test results from the victims who got autopsies.
The best tool of investigators to pin down the diagnosis _ the autopsy _ is sometimes hard to get, said Tom Shanahan with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Joan Kingsford wanted an autopsy done on her husband, but no mortician in the area would agree to handle Alvin's body after his brain cavity had been opened.
Mortuary procedures _ including embalming _ can be done safely on intact bodies of CJD victims as long as extra precautions are taken, but the World Health Organization does not recommend embalming patients who have had autopsies.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml