[jjoonathan]

Are CJD and Alzheimer's two names for the same thing, just with different mechanisms of transmission and initial loads?

(I walked away from a protein misfolding seminar with the vague impression that this was the case but I never managed to track down someone who knew enough to answer.)

[sp332]

They are different, but related. Some symptoms of CJD can be similar to symptoms of other progressive neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease. However, CJD causes unique changes in brain tissue which can be seen at autopsy. It also tends to cause more rapid deterioration of a person’s abilities than Alzheimer’s disease or most other types of dementia.

[adenadel]

Current understanding is that they are two different diseases, but this paper hints that Alheimer's could possibly be caused by the misfolded prion present in CJD. The mechanism of CJD is fairly well understood while the mechanism(s) of Alzheimer's are more out in the open. Someone else could probably confirm with more confidence than I can.