Update

[Guest guest]

I hope you all had a very happy holiday season, though I guess it's not over

yet. 's birthday is New Year's day, so I think if we can make it through

that, we'll be okay. I know that it was difficult for all of you and you

were, and are, all on my mind.

I just wanted to send through a little update on my aunt . We met with

the chief epidemiologist for the State of Colorado. The autopsy of 's

brain and spinal fluid was conducted at Case Western University in Ohio.

There is was confirmed that did die from CJD - there was no trace of the

nvCJD pattern, which they didn't suspect there would be, but wanted to be

certain due to her age. We do not have a complete report of the autopsy yet,

however they will be trying to get us a copy soon,

Secondly, they have come to the decision that it is probable that

contracted CJD from the dura mater implant which she received during her

spinal/neck/brain surgery in 1992. They know where the dura mater came from

-- it was Tutoplast manufactured by BioDynamics and they have obtained the

donor's medical records. His cause of death was cardiac arrest, no mention of

CJD or symptoms, but they are researching it further. The donor's dura mater

was split into 2 pieces - one that received and the other was sent to

Japan. They are at this time trying to determine who, if anyone, received

this second piece and if that person has developed CJD. It seems that the

Japanese do not keep as specific medical records as the United States does, so

it is taking a greater amount of time to determine.

I will be sure to let you all know when I hear something else.