3 cases of rare brain disease reported in Hood River County; 2 reported dead
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Three cases of a rare brain disease have been reported by public health officials in Hood River County.
The rare brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease have been found in three cases in the past eight months, and it's unclear if these cases are linked at this time, according to the Hood River County Health Department on Friday.
The Oregonian/OregonLive, which was the first to report on the cases, says two of the cases have resulted in deaths. KOIN 6 News has reached out to the Hood River County Health Department for confirmation.
No other details about the local cases were immediately available.
In a Facebook post announcing the investigation, health department officials for Hood River County described the risk to the public as "extremely low."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is the result of a prion, which is a type of infectious protein, and prions then trigger a body's normal proteins to misfold.
Hood River County health officials say most cases of CJD can happen without a known reason, but sometimes it can be inherited by running in families and in very rare cases, it can be spread through certain medical exposures or by eating infected beef.
Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops.