From my 2nd-hand info (my comment below about friend-of-family stricken with the disease), I understand that the local hospital was unequipped to diagnose it fu

From my 2nd-hand info (my comment below about friend-of-family stricken with the disease), I understand that the local hospital was unequipped to diagnose it fully. They had to send a sample to CDC (?) or maybe Mayo as part of autopsy. If I remember what I read years ago (see "Deadly Feasts" book by Richard Rhodes, I recall it being a good read, and part of what made me swear off beef) they actually look at the brain matter to see if the amyloid plaques are present -- the degenerated holes in the brain tissue. I didn't think there was some molecular-kind of test for the proteins themselves. But my info is from years ago on this.