Are population-genetic mechanisms responsible for clustering of cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?

epilepticus. Curarisation of the patient, although it stops the con- vulsions, does not arrest seizure activity in the brain, and so oedema and hypoxia develop further, producing possibly permanent brain damage. The long-term use of an anaesthetic gas, such as halothane, is unsuitable because of its general toxicity. Besides their anticonvulsive properties the barbiturates have been shown to protect the brain against anoxia and ischaemia and to lower the increased intracranial pressure.-) Barbiturate coma has recently been successfully used to trcat both severe traumatic brain damage and Reye's syndrome.5