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Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Procedures for Handling Diagnostic and Research Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Frank O. Bastian  and
Roger A. Jennings
Frank O. Bastian
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of South Alabama, College of Medicine, Mobile, Alabama
Roger A. Jennings
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of South Alabama, College of Medicine, Mobile, Alabama
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Extract

There is increasing concern in the medical community regarding the safe handling and storage of biological materials procured from patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Neurosurgeons have refused to operate on CJD patients, pathologists have refused to do autopsies on CJD patients, and hospitals have discharged CJD patients without confirmation of their diagnoses. This attitude was exemplified in the case of a director of a pathology laboratory who was so concerned about the safety of his laboratory personnel that he proposed to incinerate his entire collection of CJD slides. This extreme example is typical of the hysteria common among medical colleagues regarding the safe handling of CJD biological materials.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 48 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1984

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