CHARLESTON, S.C., July 31 (Reuters) - A South Carolina
hospital said it has notified 11 brain surgery patients that
they could have been exposed to a rare brain disease through
surgical instruments used on a patient who was later diagnosed
with the fatal condition.
Greenville Hospital System officials said the patient was found to suffer from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain illness that affects one to two people per million worldwide each year and is always fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Death usually results within one year of diagnosis.
The CDC recommends that instruments that have come into contact with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease undergo additional sterilization procedures prescribed by the World Health Organization.
In this case, because the Creutzfeldt-Jakob diagnosis wasn't known at the time of the patient's surgery, the instruments were "sterilized according to rigorous U.S. protocols" but did not undergo any extra disinfecting, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Officials said they believe there was a low chance that the disease was transmitted to the other patients, who underwent neurological surgeries after the infected patient in February.
No cases of transmission of the brain disease from surgical equipment have been reported since 1976, according to the CDC.
"This is a very unusual event," said Dr. Thomas Diller, vice president of quality and patient safety for the Greenville Hospital System. "After a full assessment and discussion with the CDC, we believe the risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to any patient is extremely small."
"We also value transparency and thus notified all patients who could be affected by this potential exposure," he said.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is diagnosed through an autopsy or brain biopsy, according to the CDC. The hospital would not confirm whether the patient with the diagnosis has died.
Greenville Hospital System said it has partnered with the CDC and the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center to investigate whether the 11 other patients were exposed.
Destroying equipment that comes into contact with the illness is the safest option but is not always possible, according to the CDC.
"Destruction of heat-resistant surgical instruments that come in contact with high infectivity tissues, albeit the safest and most unambiguous method as described in the WHO guidelines, may not be practical or cost effective," the CDC website says.
Greenville Hospital System officials said the patient was found to suffer from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain illness that affects one to two people per million worldwide each year and is always fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Death usually results within one year of diagnosis.
The CDC recommends that instruments that have come into contact with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease undergo additional sterilization procedures prescribed by the World Health Organization.
In this case, because the Creutzfeldt-Jakob diagnosis wasn't known at the time of the patient's surgery, the instruments were "sterilized according to rigorous U.S. protocols" but did not undergo any extra disinfecting, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Officials said they believe there was a low chance that the disease was transmitted to the other patients, who underwent neurological surgeries after the infected patient in February.
No cases of transmission of the brain disease from surgical equipment have been reported since 1976, according to the CDC.
"This is a very unusual event," said Dr. Thomas Diller, vice president of quality and patient safety for the Greenville Hospital System. "After a full assessment and discussion with the CDC, we believe the risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to any patient is extremely small."
"We also value transparency and thus notified all patients who could be affected by this potential exposure," he said.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is diagnosed through an autopsy or brain biopsy, according to the CDC. The hospital would not confirm whether the patient with the diagnosis has died.
Greenville Hospital System said it has partnered with the CDC and the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center to investigate whether the 11 other patients were exposed.
Destroying equipment that comes into contact with the illness is the safest option but is not always possible, according to the CDC.
"Destruction of heat-resistant surgical instruments that come in contact with high infectivity tissues, albeit the safest and most unambiguous method as described in the WHO guidelines, may not be practical or cost effective," the CDC website says.
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