" I call prion disease the great mimicker because CJD, which is the predominant form of human prion disease, can look like anything. Many different parts of the brain can be involved. A patient may present depending upon where the disease starts. If the disease starts in the visual processes of the brain, the patient might have visual symptoms. If it starts in the hippocampus, they might have short-term memory problems. If it starts in the parietal lobe, particularly the right parietal, they might have visual-spatial processing problems. If it starts in the frontal lobes, they might have behavioral, personality, executive function changes. If it starts in the cerebellum, or areas of the brain that have connections to the cerebellum, they might have incoordination, ataxia. "