The recent death of a Charles City man from a rare disease poses no health risk to the public, according to Floyd County Public Health Administrator Gail Arjes.
Thomas Squier, 60, of Charles City, died this week after being tentatively diagnosed with an extremely rare degenerative brain disorder. Squier’s wife Paula told the Waterloo-based news station KWWL that doctors at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics last week gave her husband a 90 percent diagnosis that he had Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).
Arjes, who said on Friday that the diagnosis has not yet been reported to her agency, explained in a statement that Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease classic is not transmitted from person to person.
“Classic CJD is not related to “mad cow” disease. You do not get CJD by eating or drinking any certain type of food. It is a genetic disorder,” Arjes wrote.
Squier died at the age symptoms of CJD typically begin to occur.
There are three types of CJD: sporadic CJD, hereditary CJD and acquired CJD.
Paula Squier told KWWL reporters that UI doctors said her husband likely had the sporadic from of the disease and that it does not pose a threat to the public.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders says the risk of CJD being transmitted to other people is very small.
Squier’s symptoms began about 6-7 months ago with vision problems. He died Wednesday, Dec. 31 at his home.
An autopsy will have to be performed to confirm UI doctors’ diagnosis of CJD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in a million people get the sporadic form of CJD each year.
A representative from the Iowa Department of Public Health told the Charles City Press last week that about three cases of CJD occur in Iowa each year.
The risk of CJD increases with age — the rate at which it occurs increases to 3.4 cases per million people per year in individuals over 50, according to the CDC.