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Accidental transmission of CJD to humans appears to have occurred with corneal transplantation, contaminated electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode implantation, and surgical procedures. Corneas from donors with unsuspected CJD have been transplanted to apparently healthy recipients who developed CJD after variable incubation periods. The same improperly decontaminated EEG electrodes that caused CJD in two young patients with intractable epilepsy caused CJD in a chimpanzee 18 months after their experimental implantation.
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Surgical procedures may have resulted in accidental inoculation of patients with prions, presumably because some instrument or apparatus in the operating theater became contaminated when a CJD patient underwent surgery. Although the epidemiology of these studies is highly suggestive, no proof for such episodes exists.
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More than 160 cases of CJD after implantation of dura mater grafts have been recorded. All of the grafts appear to have been acquired from a single manufacturer whose preparative procedures were inadequate to inactivate human prions. One case of CJD occurred after repair of an eardrum perforation with a pericardium graft.
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Human growth hormone and pituitary gonadotropin therapy
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The transmission of CJD prions from contaminated human growth hormone (hGH) preparations derived from human pituitaries has been responsible for fatal cerebellar disorders with dementia in >180 patients ranging in age from 10 to 41 years. These patients received injections of hGH every 2–4 days for 4–12 years. If it is thought that these patients developed CJD from injections of prion-contaminated hGH preparations, the possible incubation periods range from 4 to 30 years. Only recombinant hGH is now used therapeutically so that possible contamination with prions is no longer an issue. Four cases of CJD have occurred in women receiving human pituitary gonadotropin.
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The restricted geographic occurrence and chronology of vCJD raised the possibility that BSE prions had been transmitted to humans through the consumption of tainted beef. More than 190 cases of vCJD have occurred, with >90% of these in Britain. vCJD has also been reported in people either living in or originating from France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Saudi Arabia, United States, Canada, and Japan.
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The steady decline in the number of vCJD cases over the past decade argues that there will not be a prion disease epidemic in Europe, similar to those seen for BSE and kuru. What is certain is that prion-tainted meat should be prevented from entering the human food supply.
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The most compelling evidence that vCJD is caused by BSE prions was obtained from experiments in mice expressing the bovine PrP transgene. Both BSE and vCJD prions were efficiently transmitted to these transgenic mice and with similar incubation periods. In contrast to sCJD prions, vCJD prions did not transmit disease efficiently to mice expressing a chimeric human-mouse PrP transgene. Earlier studies with nontransgenic mice suggested that vCJD and BSE might be derived from the same source because both inocula transmitted disease with similar but very long incubation periods.
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Attempts to determine the origin of BSE and vCJD prions have relied on passaging studies in mice, some of which are described above, as well as studies of the conformation and glycosylation of PrPSc. One scenario suggests that a particular conformation of bovine PrPSc was selected for heat resistance during the rendering process and was then reselected multiple times as cattle infected by ingesting prion-contaminated meat and bone meal (MBM) were slaughtered and their offal rendered into more MBM. Variant CJD cases have virtually disappeared with protection of the beef supply in Europe.
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Frequently the brains of patients with CJD have no recognizable abnormalities on gross examination. Patients who survive for several years have variable degrees of cerebral atrophy.
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On light microscopy, the pathologic hallmarks of CJD are spongiform degeneration and astrocytic gliosis. The lack of an inflammatory response in CJD and other prion diseases is an important pathologic feature of these degenerative disorders. Spongiform degeneration is characterized by many 1- to 5-μm vacuoles in the neuropil between nerve cell bodies. Generally the spongiform changes occur in the cerebral cortex, putamen, caudate nucleus, thalamus, and molecular layer of the cerebellum. Astrocytic gliosis is a constant but nonspecific feature of prion diseases. Widespread proliferation of fibrous astrocytes is found throughout the gray matter of brains infected with CJD prions. Astrocytic processes filled with glial filaments form extensive networks.
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Amyloid plaques have been found in ~10% of CJD cases. Purified CJD prions from humans and animals exhibit the ultrastructural and histochemical characteristics of amyloid when treated with detergents during limited proteolysis. In first passage from some human Japanese CJD cases, amyloid plaques have been found in mouse brains. These plaques stain with antibodies raised against PrP.
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The amyloid plaques of GSS disease are morphologically distinct from those seen in kuru or scrapie. GSS plaques consist of a central dense core of amyloid surrounded by smaller globules of amyloid. Ultrastructurally, they consist of a radiating fibrillar network of amyloid fibrils, with scant or no neuritic degeneration. The plaques can be distributed throughout the brain but are most frequently found in the cerebellum. They are often located adjacent to blood vessels. Congophilic angiopathy has been noted in some cases of GSS disease.
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In vCJD, a characteristic feature is the presence of “florid plaques.” These are composed of a central core of PrP amyloid, surrounded by vacuoles in a pattern suggesting petals on a flower.
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Nonspecific prodromal symptoms occur in approximately a third of patients with CJD and may include fatigue, sleep disturbance, weight loss, headache, anxiety, vertigo, malaise, and ill-defined pain. Most patients with CJD present with deficits in higher cortical function. Similarly, psychiatric symptoms, such as depression, psychosis, and visual hallucinations, are often the defining features of the illness. These deficits almost always progress over weeks or months to a state of profound dementia characterized by memory loss, impaired judgment, and a decline in virtually all aspects of intellectual function. A few patients present with either visual impairment or cerebellar gait and coordination deficits. Frequently the cerebellar deficits are rapidly followed by progressive dementia. Visual problems often begin with blurred vision and diminished acuity, rapidly followed by dementia.
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Other symptoms and signs include extrapyramidal dysfunction manifested as rigidity, masklike facies, or (less commonly) choreoathetoid movements; pyramidal signs (usually mild); seizures (usually major motor) and, less commonly, hypoesthesia; supranuclear gaze palsy; optic atrophy; and vegetative signs such as changes in weight, temperature, sweating, or menstruation.
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Most patients (~90%) with CJD exhibit myoclonus that appears at various times throughout the illness. Unlike other involuntary movements, myoclonus persists during sleep. Startle myoclonus elicited by loud sounds or bright lights is frequent. It is important to stress that myoclonus is neither specific nor confined to CJD and tends to occur later in the course of CJD. Dementia with myoclonus can also be due to AD (Chap. 35), dementia with Lewy bodies (Chap. 35), corticobasal degeneration (Chap. 35) cryptococcal encephalitis, or the myoclonic epilepsy disorder Unverricht-Lundborg disease (Chap. 31).
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In documented cases of accidental transmission of CJD to humans, an incubation period of 1.5–2 years preceded the development of clinical disease. In other cases, incubation periods of up to 40 years have been suggested. Most patients with CJD live 6–12 months after the onset of clinical signs and symptoms, whereas some live for up to 5 years.
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The constellation of dementia, myoclonus, and periodic electrical bursts in an afebrile 60-year-old patient generally indicates CJD. Clinical abnormalities in CJD are confined to the CNS. Fever, elevated sedimentation rate, leukocytosis in blood, or a pleocytosis in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) should alert the physician to another etiology to explain the patient’s CNS dysfunction, although there are rare cases of CJD in which mild CSF pleocytosis is observed.
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Variations in the typical course appear in inherited and transmitted forms of the disease. fCJD has an earlier mean age of onset than sCJD. In GSS disease, ataxia is usually a prominent and presenting feature, with dementia occurring late in the disease course. GSS disease presents earlier than CJD (mean age 43 years) and is typically more slowly progressive than CJD; death usually occurs within 5 years of onset. FFI is characterized by insomnia and dysautonomia; dementia occurs only in the terminal phase of the illness. Rare sporadic cases have been identified. vCJD has an unusual clinical course, with a prominent psychiatric prodrome that may include visual hallucinations and early ataxia, whereas frank dementia is usually a late sign of vCJD.
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DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
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Many conditions mimic CJD. Dementia with Lewy bodies (Chap. 35) is the most common disorder to be mistaken for CJD. It can present in a subacute fashion with delirium, myoclonus, and extrapyramidal features. Other neurodegenerative disorders (Chap. 35) to consider include AD, FTD, corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy, ceroid lipofuscinosis, and myoclonic epilepsy with Lafora bodies (Chap. 31). The absence of abnormalities on diffusion-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will almost always distinguish these dementing conditions from CJD.
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Hashimoto’s encephalopathy, which presents as a subacute progressive encephalopathy with myoclonus and periodic triphasic complexes on the EEG, should be excluded in every case of suspected CJD. It is diagnosed by the finding of high titers of antithyroglobulin or antithyroid peroxidase (antimicrosomal) antibodies in the blood and improves with glucocorticoid therapy. Unlike CJD, fluctuations in severity typically occur in Hashimoto’s encephalopathy.
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Intracranial vasculitides may produce nearly all of the symptoms and signs associated with CJD, sometimes without systemic abnormalities. Myoclonus is exceptional with cerebral vasculitis, but focal seizures may confuse the picture. Prominent headache, absence of myoclonus, stepwise change in deficits, abnormal CSF, and focal white matter changes on MRI or angiographic abnormalities all favor vasculitis.
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Paraneoplastic conditions (Chap. 50), particularly limbic encephalitis and cortical encephalitis, can also mimic CJD. In many of these patients, dementia appears prior to the diagnosis of a tumor, and in some, no tumor is ever found. Detection of the paraneoplastic antibodies is often the only way to distinguish these cases from CJD.
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Other diseases that can simulate CJD include neurosyphilis, AIDS dementia complex (Chap. 48), progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (Chap. 46), subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, progressive rubella panencephalitis, herpes simplex encephalitis (Chap. 46), diffuse intracranial tumor (gliomatosis cerebri; Chap. 49), anoxic encephalopathy, dialysis dementia, uremia, hepatic encephalopathy, voltage-gated potassium channel (VGkC) autoimmune encephalopathy, and lithium or bismuth intoxication.
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The only specific diagnostic tests for CJD and other human prion diseases measure PrPSc. The most widely used method involves limited proteolysis that generates PrP 27-30, which is detected by immunoassay after denaturation. The conformation-dependent immunoassay (CDI) is based on immunoreactive epitopes that are exposed in PrPC but buried in PrPSc. In humans, the diagnosis of CJD can be established by brain biopsy if PrPSc is detected. If no attempt is made to measure PrPSc, but the constellation of pathologic changes frequently found in CJD is seen in a brain biopsy, then the diagnosis is reasonably secure (see “Neuropathology,” above). The high sensitivity and specificity of cortical ribboning and basal ganglia hyperintensity on FLAIR and diffusion-weighted MRI for the diagnosis of CJD have greatly diminished the need for brain biopsy in patients with suspected CJD. Because PrPSc is not uniformly distributed throughout the CNS, the apparent absence of PrPSc in a limited sample such as a biopsy does not rule out prion disease. At autopsy, sufficient brain samples should be taken for both PrPSc immunoassay, preferably by CDI, and immunohistochemistry of tissue sections.
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To establish the diagnosis of either sCJD or familial prion disease, sequencing the PRNP gene must be performed. Finding the wild-type PRNP gene sequence permits the diagnosis of sCJD if there is no history to suggest infection from an exogenous source of prions. The identification of a mutation in the PRNP gene sequence that encodes a nonconservative amino acid substitution argues for familial prion disease.
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CT may be normal or show cortical atrophy. MRI is valuable for distinguishing sCJD from most other conditions. On FLAIR sequences and diffusion-weighted imaging, ~90% of patients show increased intensity in the basal ganglia and cortical ribboning (Fig. 40-3). This pattern is not seen with other neurodegenerative disorders but has been seen infrequently with viral encephalitis, paraneoplastic syndromes, or seizures. When the typical MRI pattern is present, in the proper clinical setting, diagnosis is facilitated. However, some cases of sCJD do not show this typical pattern, and other early diagnostic approaches are still needed.
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CSF is nearly always normal but may show protein elevation and, rarely, mild pleocytosis. Although the stress protein 14-3-3 is elevated in the CSF of some patients with CJD, similar elevations of 14-3-3 are found in patients with other disorders; thus this elevation is not specific. Similarly, elevations of CSF neuron-specific enolase and tau occur in CJD but lack specificity for diagnosis.
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The EEG is often useful in the diagnosis of CJD, although only approximately 60% of individuals show the typical pattern. During the early phase of CJD, the EEG is usually normal or shows only scattered theta activity. In most advanced cases, repetitive, high-voltage, triphasic, and polyphasic sharp discharges are seen, but in many cases their presence is transient. The presence of these stereotyped periodic bursts of <200 ms in duration, occurring every 1–2 s, makes the diagnosis of CJD very likely. These discharges are frequently but not always symmetric; there may be a one-sided predominance in amplitude. As CJD progresses, normal background rhythms become fragmentary and slower.
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Although CJD should not be considered either contagious or communicable, it is transmissible. The risk of accidental inoculation by aerosols is very small; nonetheless, procedures producing aerosols should be performed in certified biosafety cabinets. Biosafety level 2 practices, containment equipment, and facilities are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. The primary problem in caring for patients with CJD is the inadvertent infection of health care workers by needle and stab wounds. Electroencephalographic and electromyographic needles should not be reused after studies on patients with CJD have been performed.
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There is no reason for pathologists or other morgue employees to resist performing autopsies on patients whose clinical diagnosis was CJD. Standard microbiologic practices outlined here, along with specific recommendations for decontamination, seem to be adequate precautions for the care of patients with CJD and the handling of infected specimens.
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DECONTAMINATION OF CJD PRIONS
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Prions are extremely resistant to common inactivation procedures, and there is some disagreement about the optimal conditions for sterilization. Some investigators recommend treating CJD-contaminated materials once with 1 N NaOH at room temperature, but we believe this procedure may be inadequate for sterilization. Autoclaving at 134°C for 5 h or treatment with 2 N NaOH for several hours is recommended for sterilization of prions. The term sterilization implies complete destruction of prions; any residual infectivity can be hazardous. Recent studies show that sCJD prions bound to stainless steel surfaces are resistant to inactivation by autoclaving at 134°C for 2 h; exposure of bound prions to an acidic detergent solution prior to autoclaving rendered prions susceptible to inactivation.
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PREVENTION AND THERAPEUTICS
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There is no known effective therapy for preventing or treating CJD. The finding that phenothiazines and acridines inhibit PrPSc formation in cultured cells led to clinical studies of quinacrine in CJD patients. Unfortunately, quinacrine failed to slow the rate of cognitive decline in CJD, possibly because therapeutic concentrations in the brain were not achieved. Although inhibition of the P-glycoprotein (Pgp) transport system resulted in substantially increased quinacrine levels in the brains of mice, the prion incubation times were not extended by treatment with the drug. Whether such an approach can be used to treat CJD remains to be established.
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Like the acridines, anti-PrP antibodies have been shown to eliminate PrPSc from cultured cells. Additionally, such antibodies in mice, either administered by injection or produced from a transgene, have been shown to prevent prion disease when prions are introduced by a peripheral route, such as intraperitoneal inoculation. Unfortunately, the antibodies were ineffective in mice inoculated intracerebrally with prions. Several drugs, including pentosan polysulfate as well as porphyrin and phenylhydrazine derivatives, delay the onset of disease in animals inoculated intracerebrally with prions if the drugs are given intracerebrally beginning soon after inoculation.