Human Version of the Mad Cow Disease??????

Question

Is this possible? I hear it is rare and that is has occured in SouthEast Asian countries. However my friend has told me she has contracted it and is being looked after by 3-4 doctors who are in shock. They have never seen this and already blisters in the mouth and tongue have started and she has been experiencing rashes. Tell me more if anyone knows more on this.

Sounds scary.

Answer 1

I do not think your friend has Creutzfelt-Jacobs disease. It can only be confirmed with a brain biopsy. It does not cause blisters. Hand foot and mouth disease causes blisters.

Answer 2

Bovine Spongioform Encehpalitis. (mad cow disease) is incurable. A cure is, with modern medicine, impossible as the disease is not caused by a virus or germ but a protein called a "prion". Under normal circumstances the protein is harmless but for some reason it can become "twisted", "bent" or "folded". When it does, it attacks the brain leaving microscopic holes in the brain which cause a deterioration in both mental and physical facultys and ultimately cause death.

Your friend may be victim of some other disease as I have never heard of it causing rashes or blisters in the mouth.

Answer 3

It's called Kuru and it originally came from cannibals - no joking.
"Kuru is now known to be a prion disease, one of several known transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. [TSEs]Understanding the structure and replication of the prion is crucial to interpreting the dynamics of kuru and the several other prion diseases which exist today.
Knowledge of the dynamics of the disease has continued to grow, even though the disease all but disappeared with the termination of cannibalism in New Guinea"
In that case that she may have been wrongly diagnosed, here is a Website that can help to evaluate a diagnosis: http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/k/kuru/symptoms.htm#intro
In case you are interested in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), I have listed a second reference below, but the prognosis is equally grim. They are both fatal. When I did a search using the terms "TSEs symptoms blisters" I did find a lot of listings about blisters in the mouth, on the hands, etc. They can do a live brain biopsy to prove it, and there was some info about developing a blood test for Mad Cow on one of the sights. I'm sorry this terrible thing happened to your friend.

Answer 4

Mad Human Disease

Answer 5

Human 'mad cow disease' is called variant CJD (creutzfeld-jakob disease). It is caused by eating meat infected with mad cow disease. Over 100 people have died in the UK (where mad cow disease started) of variant CJD so far, there have been very few cases elsewhere.

It is a terrible disease that leads to a prolonged and painful death, it is incurable, it is certainly nothing to joke about.

I seriously doubt this is what your friend has.

Answer 6

She does NOT have the human form of mad cow disease or variant Jacob Creutzfeld disease as it is sometimes called. I'm not sure what her doctors are seeing, but from your description, there is absolutely no suggestion of the disease.

Answer 7

What? BSE? That scares been around for 20 some years now, how can you not have heard of it?! There was a massive scare in britain when it was discovered that Mad cow disease could be transmitted to humans, causing vCJD. a couple of cases were seen in britain I think :/ Seeing as its so rare, I doubt your friend has it, but who knows...

Answer 8

Creutzfeild-Jakob disease (the spelling could be wrong)they talked about it on X-files
its real and i think it causes the person to go insane and eventually die, but i could be wrong.
and it can be spread by eating another person who has it, according to X-files