creutzfeldt jakob disease Definition

a rare progressive fatal encephalopathy caused by a prion and marked by development of porous brain tissue, premature dementia in middle age, and gradual loss of muscular coordination

variant creutzfeldt-jakob disease —abbreviation nvCJD

a fatal prion disease that is held to be a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease caused by the prion associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and contracted by consuming infected beef or beef products —abbreviation vCJD—called also variant CJD