vCJD shares some symptoms with classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), but it affects younger individuals and has a longer duration. Early symptoms include psychiatric changes such as depression and anxiety, followed by neurological signs like unsteadiness, involuntary movements, and cognitive decline. As the disease progresses, patients develop severe mental impairment and eventually lapse into a coma. The disease is invariably fatal within months to a few years of symptom onset.
