[orthodoc]

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the human equivalent of mad cow disease. It's a prion disease seen in multiple species, including ours. Prions (abnormally folded proteins that cause other proteins to adopt abnormal structures) survive extreme temperatures and pressures, so normal sterilization procedures won't destroy them.

This is a horrifying concept, but I don't see where it follows logically that seeking medical care will harm you. A small number of people who need brain surgery may possibly encounter prion disease (the overwhelming majority don't). There is no way to anticipate who may encounter the disease. At this point, we only know after the fact. So, should all those who need brain surgery refuse it? What would be the morbidity and mortality then? Once there is a way to detect prion disease sooner, do you think it will be suppressed? Do you realize that neurosurgeons are most at risk for contracting C-J disease, and it has happened not infrequently? Or is that acceptable? Should those damned neurosurgeons who have never lived a normal adult life, having spent all of it on call, and none of whom have a successful marriage because they're married to their patients, be seen as justifiably punished, a satisfactory scapegoat for the resentment of those who want the algebra to be easy (don't even mention calculus)?

For those who have been ill enough to have needed brain surgery, I can understand some saying that they have more pressing concerns than whether to agonize over their chances of contracting a disease that affects about 1/1,000,000. Who would say that? Anyone who has had to face the imminent prospect of their death would say that.