Update: Patient Tests Positive for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

A Cape Cod hospital patient tested positive for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), an Alzheimer's-like brain disorder. A form of CJD - variant CJD - is associated with mad cow disease.

Doctors say this woman has not been tested for the strain of the disease related to mad cow since the test takes weeks, the strain is so rare, and there was no indication that she had that strain, according to The Boston Globe.

The article says that each year in Massachusetts about six people are diagnosed with CJD, a degenerative disorder, which in most cases leads to rapid death. The cause of this patient’s illness is still not known, and will require further testing.

Only three cases of the mad cow strain have been identified in people in the U.S., and all of those patients had come from England.

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