Objective: To describe the incidence condition and characteristic of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in China.
Methods: The clinical and epidemical information of patients from China CJD surveillance network was analyzed. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens from these patients were differently collected to be used to detect the 14-3-3 protein in the CSF and to analyze the PRNP gene.
Results: Ten possible and 8 probable clinically diagnosed CJD patients were found. These patients had sporadic CJD. There were no geographic clustering and occupational risk with these patients. The mean age at onset of disease was approximately 60 years. The male to female ratio was approximately 1:1; rapidly progressive dementia was the main early symptom, which was present in 44% of patients.
Conclusion: The geographic distribution, occupation, the ratio of male to female and the mean age of onset were consistent with the characteristics of sporadic CJD.