Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease cluster in an Australian rural city

Ann Neurol. 2002 Jul;52(1):115-8. doi: 10.1002/ana.10224.

Abstract

Through the Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry, 6 pathologically confirmed sporadic cases were recognized over a 13-year period in persons who had been long-term residents of a moderate-sized rural city, whereas the expected number was 0.923. An extensive investigation could not find any point-source or case-to-case transmission links. This occurrence is highly statistically significant (p = 0.0027) when viewed in isolation and remains significant (p < 0.02) when only the cases that arose after the cluster was recognized were taken into account. However, a more conservative statistical analysis suggests that such a grouping could have arisen by chance in at least one population group of this size when the whole country is taken into consideration.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Australia / epidemiology
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Poisson Distribution
  • Registries / statistics & numerical data
  • Rural Population* / statistics & numerical data