article_snippet.sent: WHO GETS variant CJD?
article_snippet.sent: Since variant CJD was first reported in 1996, a total of 229 patients with this extremely rare disease from 12 countries have been identified.
article_snippet.sent: There is no known treatment of vCJD and it is invariably fatal.
article_snippet.sent: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN vCJD AND CJD .
article_snippet.sent: This variant form of CJD should not be confused with the classic form of CJD that is endemic throughout the world, including the United States.
article_snippet.sent: The median age at death of patients with classic CJD in the United States, for example, is 68 years, and very few cases occur in persons under 30 years of age.
article_snippet.sent: In contrast, the median age at death of patients with vCJD in the United Kingdom is 28 years.
article_snippet.sent: In contrast to classic CJD, vCJD in the United Kingdom predominantly affects younger people, has atypical clinical features, with prominent psychiatric or sensory symptoms at the time of clinical presentation and delayed onset of neurological abnormalities, including ataxia within weeks or months, dementia and myoclonus late in the illness, a duration of illness of at least 6 months, and a diffusely abnormal non-diagnostic electroencephalogram.