(TULSA, Okla.) May 19 - Tulsa's medical community is asking questions after some concerns a Green Country man may have died of mad cow disease, medically known as Variant CJD. 
FOX23 first told you last month that a man was admitted to Saint John Medical Center with a mysterious illness.  He died one week later. 
After the story first aired, the man’s son called FOX23.  It turns out his father was from Kellyville.  He says his dad did die of CJD, which is often referred to as the human form of mad cow disease.  And he may not be the only victim in that Creek County town. 
Even though Dwight Davidson and Randy King both grew up in Kellyville, they didn’t know each other until now.  They believe both their fathers contracted the same rare and devastating illness.
Both describe their fathers as tough guys and for them to get sick at all was unusual.   
But one day Randy noticed his dad, Donald King, was having trouble remembering things.  That's when Randy took his dad to Saint John Medical Center in Tulsa.  “They ran every test known to man, just kept coming back good.” 
The rapid deterioration of Donald’s mind and body baffled doctors, so they flew him to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
 Specialists there diagnosed Donald with something Randy had never heard of, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or CJD.  “I asked what that was, and she said a cousin to mad cow disease.  I was stunned and thought how could've he gotten that?”
Tulsa neurologist Doctor Rodney Myers says the disease attacks the nervous system, causing holes in the brain until it looks like a sponge, which causes devastating and fatal effects.  “The person will have problems walking, with jerking of extremities and dementia.”
Dr. Myers says the disease is difficult to trace because symptoms may not show up for years.  “The incubation period is so long, we could have a million people infected right now and wouldn't know it for another decade.”
But once symptoms show up, CJD is a quick killer. 
Randy lost his dad just one week later.  “It’s something you don't want to experience, or your loved one to experience.  Definitely not.” 
Dwight’s dad, Jimmie Davidson, started complaining about feeling confused.  Doctors told his family that Jimmie had Alzheimer’s.  “Quite honestly we didn't buy that”, Dwight said.
They too, took him to Saint John.  By then, Jimmie was having trouble walking and Dwight watched his dad steadily get worse.  “Literally from day to day to day.”
After a series of tests, neurologists diagnosed Dwight’s father with CJD.  “You realize your father's personality is just disappearing and nothing anyone could do about it.”
By the time he left the hospital, Jimmie was comatose.  He died a few days later, at home.  
Dwight and Randy both fear their fathers caught CJD by eating contaminated meat.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture randomly tests cattle for mad cow disease but less than one percent of all cows that are slaughtered. 
But inspectors do visually monitor every animal for symptoms.  U.S. inspectors found three cases of mad cow within the past five years in Washington State, Texas and Alabama.
Some experts believe CJD may also come from eating meat from diseased animals like deer and elk.  Randy and Dwight say their fathers both ate wild game. 
The State Department of Wildlife hasn't seen the disease in deer, but tells hunters who process their own meat to be extremely careful.
Ricky Hall is a butcher in Collinsville.  “You don't want to cut the spinal cord… cut the spinal cord and you contaminate the meat… I believe it'll kill you.”
Randy and Dwight will never know if contaminated meat killed their fathers.  The only way to know is with an autopsy, and they didn't get one. 
Doctors say that happens because a lot of pathologists are afraid to perform the autopsies. 
Doctor Myers says he ran into that problem.  “I had arranged for a biopsy to be sent to Oklahoma City and the neuro-pathologist there refused to accept the specimen.” 
Why?  Because he was afraid it was CJD and didn't want to get infected.
Randy and Dwight say doctors never encouraged an autopsy after their fathers died.   
In the late 1990’s three hunters were reported as suspected victims.  One man was from Miami.  But those cases were never confirmed.
Deer or elk have tested positive for the disease in 11 states, including Oklahoma.  In 1998, a herd of elk in Oklahoma County came down with disease but so far the state hasn't seen the problem with deer. 
Experts have never proven people can get CJD by eating infected wild game but they believe it could happen. 
The Surveillance Center in Ohio specializes in researching diseases like CJD.  The center sends out a letter every year asking doctors to perform autopsies if they suspect CJD. 
The center will pay for the autopsy and will even send a pathologist to perform it.  But the CJD Foundation says the message is not getting through, even though the tissue samples are critical in the hopes of finding a cure. 
Doctors at the Surveillance Center say if there is a proven case of Variant CJD, they’ll be the first to know about it.
Right now researchers are testing a suspicious tissue sample.  It's an autopsy from a Virginia woman who died from CJD in April. 
They believe hers could be the first confirmed case of Variant CJD in the U.S.  It could take a couple months to complete the testing.
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