CJD kills one and infects 13 more

US health chiefs believe an American citizen has died of a rare, degenerative brain disease — and they say there is a remote chance up to 13 others in multiple states were exposed to the fatal illness through surgical equipment.

Dr Joseph Pepe, president of Catholic Medical Centre in New Hampshire, said officials are 95% certain that a patient who had brain surgery in May and died in August had sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).

The disease progresses rapidly once symptoms appear and is always fatal, usually within a few months.