Several people were possibly exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease after medical equipment used on a patient (who was later diagnosed with the disease) was used in several other surgeries. This is a degenerative brain disease that is rare, but rapidly spreads and is always fatal. Normal sterilization methods won't get rid of the proteins, and 13 people may have contracted the disease. Symptoms typically include impaired vision, dementia that progresses rapidly, and personality changes. The only way the disease can be confirmed is through tests done after death. There is no test and it has a long incubation period, in some cases, it may take fifty years for symptoms to appear.
This seems like a very dangerous affliction. Hopefully a treatment will be found someday. Hospitals may need to change the normal ways they sterilize equipment in order to prevent especially harmful diseases such as this one. One slightly more positive note is the rarity of the disease: according to the CDC, only 200 people in the United States contact it every year.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/health/creutzfeldt-jakob-brain-disease/index.html?hpt=us_c2
No comments:
Post a Comment