Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

English Noun

Definition

A rare, progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system, characterized by dementia and loss of muscle control. It is a prion disease, apparently transmissible from animals to humans by eating infected tissue, as well as from tissue interchanges among humans (e.g. corneal transplants, blood transfusions).

Etymology

Named after German neurologists Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt (1885–1964) and Alfons Maria Jakob (1884–1931).