TRENTON, N.J., March 24 (UPI) -- Five probable or confirmed cases of the rare brain disorder Creutzfeld-Jakob disease have occurred in the past 15 months in northern New Jersey.
All five of the deaths, including a 62-year-old man last Friday that was first reported by UPI, occurred in the two-county area of Somerset and Morris counties, according to data provided by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
The two counties have a combined population of 789,000, so this would be an unusually high number of cases for a disease that is thought to occur at the rate of about one per million people per year.
Jennifer Sciortino, spokeswoman for the DHSS, said the rate was not unusual.
"New Jersey's incident rate (for the entire state) is approximately eight per year and thus there is no indication that we are exceeding the average case count per year," she told UPI.
The state has recorded two probable cases thus far in 2004, one in Somerset and the 62-year-old man last Friday who resided in Morris County.
