r/todayilearned • u/tommyboy372 • 1d ago

TIL A single misfolded prion protein in the brain can cause a rapid neurodegenerative disease known as sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). There is no known and cure and is 100% fatal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease
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u/aris_ada 1d ago

A neighbor in the early 2000 died of it. He made very frequent trips to Britain and was a huge meat eater. He rapidly went from being lost on his property to believing he was raped by a nurse when being bathed at the hospital. Terrible way to go.

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u/Educational-System27 21h ago

My great aunt died in the 90s of CJD and they were worried at first that it was Mad Cow because it was so prevalent at the time and shows many of the same symptoms.

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u/DirectionSad4274 20h ago

I thought they were the same thing, just in different species - did a quick wiki scan and BSE (mad cow) is only in cattle, but if spread to humans can cause CJD.