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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease is marked by rapid mental deterioration, usually within the span of a few months. Initial signs and symptoms of CJD typically include:
- Personality changes
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Memory loss
- Impaired thinking
- Impaired muscle coordination
- Blurred vision
- Insomnia
- Speech impairment
As the diseases progress, mental symptoms become more severe. Most people eventually lapse into a coma. Heart failure, respiratory failure, pneumonia or other infections are generally the cause of death. The disease usually runs its course in about seven months, although a few people may live up to one or two years after diagnosis.
In people with vCJD, psychiatric symptoms may be more prominent in the beginning, with dementia — the loss of the ability to think, reason and remember — developing later in the course of the illness. In addition, this variant affects people at a younger age than classic CJD does, and appears to have a slightly longer duration — 12 to 14 months.
