This is scary...
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/hl/story.html?s=v/nm/19981002/hl/cjd4_1.html
Brain illness kills man and his cat
NEW YORK, Oct 02 (Reuters) -- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) -- a
fatal, incurable brain disorder thought to be
caused by infectious particles called prions -- has claimed the life
of
an Italian man and his pet cat, researchers report.
``Our data suggest that the same agent strain of sporadic CJD was
involved in the patient and in his cat,'' say investigators at
the University of Verona in Italy. Their findings are published in
the
October 3rd issue of the British journal, The Lancet.
CJD is an incurable, degenerative neurological disorder that usually
kills within months of diagnosis. Many researchers
believe CJD is linked to pathogens called proteinaceous infectious
particles, or prions. CJD is thought by many experts to
be part of a family of spongiform encephalopathy illnesses that
include
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or ``mad
cow disease'').
The Italian researchers report that, in November of 1994, a
60-year-old
man came into their clinic with slurred speech,
visual problems, and difficulty walking. ``Ten days later,'' the
authors
say, ``he was speechless and able to follow only simple
commands.'' The man died in January 1995.
At the same time, the man's 7-year-old female cat began to exhibit
frenzied behaviors, jerky movements and a
hypersensitivity to touch. The cat's condition progressed to include
paralysis of the animal's hindquarters. The cat was
euthanized just after its owner's death.
On autopsy, the brains of both man and cat exhibited the degenerative
signs of a CJD-like illness. The researchers have
labeled the man's illness as CJD, and have determined that the cat
suffered from a new strain of feline spongiform
encephalopathy (FSE). Still, they believe that both illnesses were
caused by the same pathogen.
The Italian authors also note that it is highly unusual for a human
and
their pet to simultaneously contract CJD. But the
investigators remain puzzled as to just how the disorder could have
been
transmitted to both victims at roughly the same
time. They speculate that the two victims may have contracted the
illness simultaneously via contact with the same source,
such as shared food. However, the research team also acknowledges
that
the simultaneous illness may have been due to
``the chance occurrence of two sporadic forms.''
SOURCE: The Lancet 1998;352:1116-1117.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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