-Caveat Lector- Kentucky coroner confirms 2 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Copyright Scripps Howard News Service By CINCY STARR and CRAIG GARRETSON, Kentucky Post COVINGTON, Ky. (September 17, 2001 1:32 p.m. EDT) - The incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is one in a million. But if the coroner in Campbell County, Ky., is correct, the Northern Kentucky area may be defying the odds. Since March, Northern Kentucky has had two confirmed cases of CJD, a fatal brain disease associated with a tiny protein called prions. Tests are being performed on a third local person who died in August to determine if she succumbed also to the disease. The two confirmed victims are Kenneth Johnstone, 62, a former Boone County superintendent and principal who died July 31, and Helen Davis, 76, a nursing-home resident who died in March. The disease was confirmed in Johnstone's case by a brain biopsy, said his widow, Jo Ann Johnstone. Campbell County Coroner Mark Schweitzer said Davis, who died of pneumonia, also had CJD. Schweitzer, a chiropractor, also believes Sandy Reaves-Haas of Dayton may have died of CJD, although the woman's primary-care physician disagrees. Robert Tracy, an internal-medicine physician from Cold Spring, oversaw Reaves-Haas' treatment through a mysterious illness that struck suddenly and left her incapacitated and uncommunicative for several months. Tracy said samples of the woman's blood and spinal fluid tested negative for CJD during her illness. A definitive diagnosis of CJD can be achieved only with a brain biopsy, which Schweitzer requested. But Tracy said Reaves-Haas' symptoms were not those of a patient with CJD. In animals, prion disease can take the form of mad cow disease. Mad cow disease has not been detected in the United States, despite active surveillance efforts since May 1990. Jo Ann Johnstone said it's a mystery as to how her husband acquired the rare illness. They had never been to England, she said. During a trip to Spain, Italy and Morocco 11 years ago, they ate very little beef. They also rarely ate beef at home. She said doctors at University Hospital had ruled out the hereditary form of the disease. The source of Johnson's disease, as with most cases of CJD, may never be known. The disease can lie dormant for many years, further complicating efforts to pin down its cause. Schweitzer said the cases appear to be unrelated. Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
