Page "Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease" Paragraph 8

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases are caused by prions.

The diseases are thus sometimes called prion diseases.

Other prion diseases include Gerstmann – Sträussler – Scheinker syndrome ( GSS ), fatal familial insomnia ( FFI ) and kuru in humans, as well as bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease ) in cattle, chronic wasting disease ( CWD ) in elk and deer, and scrapie in sheep.

Alpers ' syndrome in infants is also thought to be a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy caused by a prion.