Woman Dies From Mad Cow Disease Variant In United States

A young 22 year old woman that was lying unconscious in Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, located in Portsmouth, Virginia has passed away from what may have been a rare degenerative brain disorder that has been linked to eating beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease.

The young woman passed away at about 5:30 PM on Wednesday.

The state health department said earlier this week that it was investigating the case, looking to see if the woman had any of a range of neurological disorders.

One possibility is a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, known as vCJD, a rare degenerative brain disorder that has been linked to consumption of contaminated beef. The disease is not spread through casual contact from person to person.

There are also other forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, known as CJD, that are unrelated to beef consumption. State officials are looking into those as well.

Though it is unknown at this time the exact cause, the disease has been known to come from tainted medical equipment and certain medical procedures as well. Doctors are suspecting that she contracted the disease shortly after having gastric-bypass surgery since the womans health began to deteriorate just after she had the surgery.

There is no treatment or cure for the disease.

Source of the story from The Virginian-Pilot.