Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease not related to a common venue--New Jersey, 1995-2004.

Beginning in June 2003, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) and CDC were notified of a suspected cluster of deaths caused by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in persons reportedly linked to Garden State Racetrack in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Concerns were raised that these deaths might have resulted from consumption of meat contaminated with the agent causing bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly called "mad cow disease") served at racetrack restaurants during 1988-1992. Consumption of BSE-contaminated cattle products has been linked to a new variant form of CJD (vCJD) in humans. This report summarizes the results of an investigation that determined the deaths were not linked causally to a common source of infection. The findings underscore the need for physicians to arrange for brain autopsies of all patients with clinically suspected or diagnosed CJD.