A 60-year-old local woman is believed to have contracted Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), an invariably fatal brain disorder, the Health Bureau (SSM) has announced.
According to an SSM statement on Friday, the patient fell ill during a visit to the United States in October, when her condition showed various symptoms such as hemiparesis, muscle weakness and difficulty with speech. She sought medical treatment in the US, Zhongshan and Hong Kong before returning to Macau on December 7 when she was admitted to the public Conde de S. Januario Hospital Centre.
The statement said that the patient’s clinical condition was serious, adding that she had not undergone blood transfusions or surgical interventions before developing the CJD symptoms.
The statement said that according to a series of tests carried out by the public hospital, there was a “very high” probability that the patient has contracted sporadic CJD. The disease reportedly affects approximately one person in every million worldwide. CJD is caused by an abnormal infectious protein in the brain called a prion.
Macau reported a case of sporadic CJD in 2012.
