We investigated a clinical case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in a person heterozygous for methionine/valine at codon 129 of the prion protein gene and identified the same strain properties in variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in methionine homozygous persons and in bovine spongiform encephalopathy. These results indicate no adaptation of the agent in a different genetic background.
Keywords: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy; prions and related diseases; strain; transmissible spongiform encephalopathy; vCJD; variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; zoonoses.