Domestic Origin BSE/CJDv2 Case?

I would like to think not, but I don't know.



Man died of rare brain disease
BY KAREN SHIDELER
The Wichita Eagle
A Kansas man who died in January had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare disease that turns brain tissue spongy, his brother said Thursday.

Frank Rebarchek of Scott City said the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center had confirmed that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease caused the death of Milton Eugene Rebarchek. He was from Monument, about 20 miles south of Colby.

"They don't know where he got it, but they're trying to figure it out," he said.

The disease's incubation period is years or even decades. It can't be confirmed until brain tissue is tested. It is always fatal.

Frank Rebarchek said his brother had worked at a packing plant in Emporia 15 or 20 years ago. One variation of the disease is mad cow disease. But the human form has never been seen in the United States in someone who hadn't had exposure elsewhere, and the United States and other countries implemented measures to prevent that form of the disease in the mid-1990s.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob can come from blood transfusions and can be hereditary in very rare cases. The majority of cases are spontaneous and develop for no apparent reason. On average, three cases a year are reported in Kansas and 250 to 300 are reported in the United States.

At first, Rebarchek said, doctors in Colby thought his brother had a stroke because of his neurological symptoms. Milton Rebarchek, who was 52 when he died, was flown to Wichita in December and died Jan. 11 at Wesley Medical Center.

Milton Rebarchek was a welder and laborer, his brother said. He is survived by a son and three daughters, his parents, five brothers, two sisters and four grandchildren.

Reach Karen Shideler at 316-268-6674 or kshideler@wichitaeagle.com.