#RareDiseases

A routine sore throat took a shocking turn for Vanessa Abraham, a California speech pathologist, whose mysterious illness sent her to the intensive care unit for weeks and left doctors baffled for months. Abraham’s ordeal, recently reported by CBS News, highlights the challenges of diagnosing rare neurological diseases—including a little-known variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome—that have implications both in the United States and here in Thailand, where uncommon health conditions can similarly stump practitioners and families.

Two recent deaths in Hood River County, Oregon, have reignited concern over Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare but devastating brain disorder that continues to puzzle medical experts worldwide. Local health officials announced that the fatalities were confirmed cases of CJD, a condition known for its rapid mental decline, neurological symptoms, and inevitable fatal outcome. News of these cases has caused unease not only among the local community in Oregon, where CJD remains exceedingly uncommon, but also for people in Thailand and globally who follow emerging infectious disease threats closely, particularly those with parallels to previous public health scares like mad cow disease.