Protection of personnel and environment against Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in pathology laboratories

Most neuropathology laboratories have been faced with the question of dealing with cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) which is a rare neurodegenerative disorder. Neuropathologists have been long aware of the transmissibility and unique properties of the agent which make it resistant to conventional inactivating reagents. The emergence of iatrogenic cases and of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis has induced anxiety among laboratory staff and raised questions about the efficiency of safety measures and procedures hitherto applied in pathology laboratories. This article aims at presenting an overview of the risk involved in handling CJD material. It gives practical advice and a key to more detailed procedures, guidelines and recommendations available in scientific literature and through government agencies. Neuropathologists and biochemists are at a higher potential risk than others since the diagnosing of CJD involves the handling of nervous tissue which contains the highest levels of infectivity.