Tuesday, July 31, 2012

11 patients may have been exposed to fatal disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease CJD Greenville Memorial Hospital

11 patients may have been exposed to fatal disease


Hospital: Patients told risks are 'extremely low'


8:22 AM, Jul 31, 2012 |


A Liberty woman treated at Greenville Memorial Hospital in February may have been exposed to a fatal disease during surgery on her brain, hospital officials confirmed Monday.


Another 10 patients also may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease through sterilized surgical instruments that were previously used on a patient who was later diagnosed with the disease, officials said, adding the risk of transmission is “extremely low.”


Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or CJD, is a degenerative neurological condition similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in which the brain eventually develops holes like a sponge, according to the National Institutes of Health.


Greenville Hospital System on Monday released a statement saying the surgeries in question took place at Greenville Memorial in February.


“All instruments were sterilized according to rigorous U.S. protocols,” the hospital said. “The CJD patient’s diagnosis wasn’t known at the time of the surgery, and (CDC) recommends that instruments that have come into contact with CJD undergo additional sterilization.”


According to GHS, which is partnering with CDC and the National Prion Center on an investigation into the matter, there has never been a case of CJD transmission through surgical instruments in the U.S.


“This is a very unusual event,” Dr. Thomas Diller, vice president of quality and patient safety, said in the statement.


“After a full assessment and discussion with the CDC, we believe the risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease to any patient is extremely small. We also value transparency and thus notified all patients who could be affected by this potential exposure.”


The current situation dates to Feb. 25, when Clare Faza, 69, fell down a flight of stairs at her home, hitting her head against concrete, her husband, Edwardo Faza, told GreenvilleOnline.com.


She was taken to Greenville Memorial, where she underwent surgery on her brain, and spent a month in the hospital, he said. She was then moved to a nursing home, where she remains, he said.


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In mid-July, Faza said, he was invited to the hospital for a meeting, informed that his wife may have been exposed to CJD and given a letter from quality management director Stephanie Cox.


She wrote that “there is an extremely small possibility” that his wife had been exposed to CJD and that the letter was issued to Faza for safety reasons, “even though there have been no known cases of transmission by surgical instruments in the United States.”


The letter went on to say that the hospital will provide Mrs. Faza with “all reasonable and appropriate treatment, at no cost to you, if she is diagnosed by biopsy with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease” and concludes, “We regret the possibility that any patient within our care could be affected by this situation. We remain diligent in our process improvement efforts and continually strive to prevent such incidents.”


Faza, 67, said he and his wife retired to South Carolina in 2005 from Pennsylvania. Until her fall, Clare Faza had never been hospitalized, he said, adding he was stunned to learn his wife could have been exposed to CJD, something he’d never heard of before. “I said, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he said.


Faza said he was given a pamphlet about CJD at the meeting and also looked it up on the Internet. The only way to determine if someone has the disease is through a brain biopsy, which carries its own risks, according to NIH.


Faza said his wife is in no condition to undergo more brain surgery because five months after the fall. She still can’t talk or do anything for herself.


“I’m worried,” he said. “I have no idea what’s going to happen to her.”


Victims of CJD at first experience memory problems, behavioral changes, lack of coordination and visual disturbances followed by more serious mental deterioration, involuntary movements, blindness, weakness, coma and death, NIH reports.


The disease can have an incubation period of up to 50 years, but death usually occurs within a year of the onset of symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It afflicts about one or two people per million a year, but is more common in people 50 and older. There were 352 cases in 2008.


About 85 percent of the time, the cause of CJD is unknown, while it’s hereditary in 5 to 10 percent of cases, NIH reports. Less than 1 percent of cases are acquired through medical procedures, according to NIH.








Monday, July 23, 2012


The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center July 2012








Tuesday, June 26, 2012


Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease Human TSE report update North America, Canada, Mexico, and USDA PRION UNIT as of May 18, 2012


type determination pending Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (tdpCJD), is on the rise in Canada and the USA






OR-34:


An update of transfusion transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)


Robert G. Will National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit; Edinburgh, UK


There have been 4 vCJD infections linked to blood transfusion in the UK, but there are a small number of individuals who remain clinically unaffected, despite being exposed to a blood transfusion derived form an individual who later developed vCJD. There are number of variables that may influence the risk of transfusion transmission and these include the time elapsed since the transfusion, the timing in relation to clinical onset of symptoms in the donor, the influence of leuco-depletion and the genetic background of recipients. Mathematical models suggest that there are likely to be further cases of transfusion transmitted vCJD in the future and that these cases may occur over an extended time frame. Concerns regarding the potential for transmission of vCJD through plasma products have been heightened by the identification of abnormal prion protein in the spleen of a patient with hemophilia, but there is a potential disparity between estimates of the number of individuals potentially exposed to significant infection and the absence of observed cases of clinical vCJD in exposed populations.




OR-36: A new neurological disease in primates inoculated with prion-infected blood or blood components


Emmanuel Comoy,1 Nina Jaffré,1 Jacqueline Mikol,1 Valérie Durand,1 Christelle Jas-Duval,2 Sophie Luccantoni-Freire,1 Evelyne Correia,1 Vincent Lebon,1 Justine Cheval,3 Isabelle Quadrio,4 Nathalie Lescoutra-Etchegaray,5 Nathalie Streichenberger,4 Stéphane Haïk,6 Chryslain Sumian,5 Armand Perret-Liaudet,4 Marc Eloit,7 Philippe Hantraye,1 Paul Brown,1 Jean-Philippe Deslys1 1Atomic Energy Commission ; Fontenay-aux-Roses, France ; 2Etablissement Français du Sang; Lille, France; 3Pathoquest; Paris, France; 4Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France; 5MacoPharma; Tourcoing, France; 6INSER M; Paris, France; 7Institut Pasteur; Paris, France


Background. Concerns about the blood-borne risk of prion infection have been confirmed by the occurrence in the UK of four transfusion-related infections of vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease), and an apparently silent infection in an hemophiliac patient. Asymptomatic incubation periods in prion diseases can extend over decades in humans, and a typical disease may or may not supervene. We present here unexpected results of independent experiments to evaluate blood transmission risk in a validated non-human primate model of prion disease.


Methods. Cynomolgus macaques were inoculated with brain or blood specimens from vCJD infected humans and vCJD or BSE-infected monkeys. Neuropathological and biochemical findings were obtained using current methods used for human patients.


Findings. Thirteen out of 20 primates exposed to human or macaque blood-derived components or potentially contaminated human plasma-derived Factor VIII exhibited an original neurological disease (myelopathy) previously not described either in humans or primates, and which is devoid of the classical clinical and lesional features of prion disease (front leg paresis in the absence of central involvement, lesions concentrated in anterior horns of lower cervical cord, with no spongiosis or inflammation), while the 12 brain-inoculated donor animals and one transfused animal exhibited the classical vCJD pattern. No abnormal prion protein (PrPres) was detected by standard tests in use for human prion diagnosis, but higher amounts of protease-sensitive PrP were detected in cervical cords than in controls. No alternative cause has been found in an exhaustive search for metabolic, endocrine, toxic, nutritional, vascular and infectious etiologies, including a search for pathogen genotypes (‘deep sequencing’). Moreover, all the three animals transfused with blood treated with a prion removal filter remain asymptomatic with a one-third longer incubation period than the two animals transfused before filtration, which both developed the atypical syndrome presented here.


Interpretation. We describe a new neurological syndrome in monkeys exposed to various prion-infected inocula, including a potentially infected batch of plasma-derived Factor VIII. Our experimental observations in the absence of evident alternative etiology is highly suggestive of a prion origin for this myelopathy, that might be compared under some aspects to certain forms of human lower motor neuron diseases. Similar human infections, were they to occur, would not be identified as a prion disease by current diagnostic investigations.




disturbing to say the least. I am seeing more and more atypical TSE disease that are NOT detectible with any standard TSE test today. the disturbing factor there would be, not knowing these cases exist, and the iatrogenic transmission there from via the medical, dental, surgical arenas. ...




Tuesday, May 29, 2012


Transmissible Proteins: Expanding the Prion Heresy






Friday, May 11, 2012


ProMetic Life Sciences Inc.: P-Capt® Filtration Prevents Transmission of Endogenous Blood-Borne Infectivity in Primates






Wednesday, August 24, 2011


All Clinically-Relevant Blood Components Transmit Prion Disease following a Single Blood Transfusion: A Sheep Model of vCJD






Wednesday, August 24, 2011


There Is No Safe Dose of Prions






Sunday, May 1, 2011


W.H.O. T.S.E. PRION Blood products and related biologicals May 2011






Monday, February 7, 2011


FDA’s Currently-Recommended Policies to Reduce the Possible Risk of Transmission of CJD and vCJD by Blood and Blood Products 2011 ???






Friday, February 10, 2012


Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) biannual update (2012/1) potential iatrogenic (healthcare-acquired) exposure to CJD, and on the National Anonymous Tonsil Archive






Thursday, December 29, 2011


Aerosols An underestimated vehicle for transmission of prion diseases?


PRION www.landesbioscience.com


please see more on Aerosols and TSE prion disease here ;




Saturday, February 12, 2011


Another Pathologists dies from CJD, another potential occupational death ?


another happenstance of bad luck, a spontaneous event from nothing, or friendly fire ???






2011 TO 2012 UPDATE


Saturday, December 3, 2011


Candidate Cell Substrates, Vaccine Production, and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies


Volume 17, Number 12—December 2011






Tuesday, December 14, 2010


Infection control of CJD, vCJD and other human prion diseases in healthcare and community settings part 4, Annex A1, Annex J,


UPDATE DECEMBER 2010






Sunday, August 01, 2010


Blood product, collected from a donors possibly at increased risk for vCJD only, was distributed USA JULY 2010






Tuesday, September 14, 2010


Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting October 28 and 29, 2010 (COMMENT SUBMISSION)








Thursday, September 02, 2010


NEUROSURGERY AND CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights The Disclosure Dilemma






Thursday, July 08, 2010


GLOBAL CLUSTERS OF CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE - A REVIEW 2010






Wednesday, June 02, 2010


CJD Annex H UPDATE AFTER DEATH PRECAUTIONS Published: 2 June 2003 Updated: May 2010






Tuesday, May 11, 2010


Current risk of iatrogenic Creutzfeld–Jakob disease in the UK: efficacy of available cleaning chemistries and reusability of neurosurgical instruments






Saturday, January 16, 2010


Evidence For CJD TSE Transmission Via Endoscopes 1-24-3 re-Singeltary to Bramble et al


Evidence For CJD/TSE Transmission Via Endoscopes


From Terry S. Singletary, Sr flounder@wt.net 1-24-3










Monday, July 20, 2009


Pre-surgical risk assessment for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) risk in neurosurgery and eye surgery units






Friday, July 17, 2009


Revision to pre-surgical assessment of risk for vCJD in neurosurgery and eye surgery units Volume 3 No 28; 17 July 2009






Sunday, May 10, 2009


Meeting of the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Committee On June 12, 2009 (Singeltary submission)






Thursday, January 29, 2009


Medical Procedures and Risk for Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Japan, 1999-2008 (WARNING TO Neurosurgeons and Ophthalmologists) Volume 15, Number 2-February 2009 Research






Sunday, July 20, 2008


Red Cross told to fix blood collection or face charges 15 years after warnings issued, few changes made to ensure safety






Monday, December 31, 2007


Risk Assessment of Transmission of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in Endodontic Practice in Absence of Adequate Prion Inactivation








Saturday, December 08, 2007


Transfusion Transmission of Human Prion Diseases






Tuesday, October 09, 2007


nvCJD TSE BLOOD UPDATE






Saturday, December 08, 2007


Transfusion Transmission of Human Prion Diseases






Saturday, January 20, 2007


Fourth case of transfusion-associated vCJD infection in the United Kingdom






vCJD case study highlights blood transfusion risk 9 Dec 2006 by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.


THIS was like closing the barn door after the mad cows got loose. not only the red cross, but the FDA has failed the public in protecting them from the TSE aka mad cow agent. TSE agent ie bse, base, cwd, scrapie, tme, ...


vCJD case study highlights blood transfusion risk -










Subject: CJD: update for dental staff


Date: November 12, 2006 at 3:25 pm PST


1: Dent Update. 2006 Oct;33(8):454-6, 458-60.


CJD: update for dental staff.








Wednesday, June 27, 2012


First US BSE Case Since 2006 Underscores Need for Vigilance


Neurology Today 21 June 2012






TSS