["Pediatric" forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD)]

The authors propose the name of pediatric CJD disease (nvCJD) for those forms of this pathology which appear in childhood and adolescence (about twenty cases have been reported in Europe: 1996). The "pediatric form" differs both in terms of age ("teenagers" and also 16-year-old), but also owing to its long course (mean of 14 to 35 months) and the early onset of psychiatric and sensory symptoms. Until a few years ago, discussion of a new pediatric-adolescent form of the disease (new variant of CJD) would have been laughable.