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NEW YORK – A 61-year-old man who has experienced severe cognitive decline before his death may have to blame a squirrel's brain.
A new report on the 2015 death in Rochester, NY, reveals that he could have been suffering from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a rare brain condition that you have probably heard as "mad cow disease".
This is called if it is related to consumption of contaminated beef, but in this case, doctors suspect a different culprit.
The man was a hunter and it was reported that he had eaten the brain of a squirrel, although he does not know if he had eaten a whole brain or just brain-contaminated squirrel meat . He was taken to the hospital after losing touch with reality and lost the ability to walk alone, reports LiveScience. An MRI revealed that his brain scan was similar to that seen in people with v-CJD.
Dr. Tara Chen, a medical resident at Rochester Regional Health, discovered the case while writing a report on suspected cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the hospital over the last five years; she presented her findings this month.
There are three forms of CJD, and only one form (which includes vCJD) is caused by exposure to infected brain tissue or the nervous system. Infectious proteins, called prions, fold abnormally and cause damage to the brain; there is no treatment or treatment.
Only a few hundred vCJD cases have been reported, most of them in the United Kingdom. only four cases have already been confirmed in the United States. Until now, the hunter's death was considered only a "probable" case of vCJD. This can only be confirmed after the death and doctors wait in medical records if an autopsy has tested the brain tissue to confirm the diagnosis.
(There have been alarming findings related to CJD in humans – and a possible link with deer.)
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