Is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease the same as mad cow disease?

Is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease the same as mad cow disease?

Variant CJD (vCJD) happens because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as “mad cow disease.” However, there are only 232 total confirmed cases of this happening, the last of which involving a person who died in 1999. That means, more than 99% of CJD cases happen for reasons other than “mad cow disease.”