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(Local CAS Section) – A 61-year-old New York man has developed an extremely rare and fatal brain disorder after eating the brain of a squirrel, according to a new report.
The unidentified victim was taken to a hospital in Rochester, New York in 2015 after being able to think and lose touch with reality. He could not walk either.
His family described him as a passionate hunter who had dined in the brain of a squirrel. However, it was unclear whether the man had consumed the entire squirrel brain or just squirrel meat contaminated with parts of the squirrel brain, according to Dr. Tara Chen, medical resident of Rochester Regional Health and lead author of the report.
Chen presented the report on October 4 at IDWeek, an annual meeting of infectious disease professionals.
The tests indicated that it was a "probable" case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal brain condition caused by infectious proteins called prions, in which Because of the discovery by MRI and a test showing often indicate the disease.
Only a few hundred cases of vCJD have been officially reported, most related to the consumption of contaminated beef in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only four confirmed cases of vCJD have been reported in the United States.
There are three forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and one form, which includes vCJD, is caused by exposure to infected tissues from the brain or nervous system.
Symptoms include depression, anxiety, memory loss, personality changes, impaired thinking, difficulty swallowing, and speech difficulties.
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