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High incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in North African immigrants to France

Laboratoire de Neurovirologie (Drs. Cathala and LeCanuet), Hôpital de la Salpètrière, Paris, France, and the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies (Drs. Brown and Gajdusek), NINCDS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

During the 15-year period 1968–1982, 328 French residents died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD); 273 had been born in France (annual mortality rate of 0.38 per million inhabitants). Of the 55 foreign-born cases, 12 came from Tunisia and 11 from Algeria (mortality rates of 4.53 and 0.95 per million). Nearly all of the Tunisians were Jews, and six belonged to two families. These findings complement earlier observations on Libyan-born Israelis, but still do not discriminate between genetic or environmental causal factors, which will require epidemiologic investigation of CJD in North Africa.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Brown, Building 36, Room 5B05, Bethesda, MD 20205.

Supported in part by l' INSERM contract No. 826021.

Accepted for publication October 3, 1984.