Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (cont.)
How Can People Avoid Spreading the Disease?
To reduce the already very low risk of CJD transmission
from one person to another, people should never donate blood, tissues, or organs
if they have suspected or confirmed CJD, or if they are at increased risk
because of a family history of the disease, a dura mater graft, or other factor.
Normal sterilization procedures such as cooking, washing, and boiling do not
destroy prions. Caregivers, health care workers, and undertakers should take the
following precautions when they are working with a person with CJD:
- Wash hands and exposed skin before eating, drinking, or
smoking.
- Cover cuts and abrasions with waterproof dressings.
- Wear surgical gloves when handling a patient's tissues and fluids or
dressing the patient's wounds.
- Avoid cutting or sticking themselves with instruments contaminated by the patient's blood or other tissues.
- Use face protection if there is a risk of splashing contaminated material
such as blood or cerebrospinal fluid.
- Soak instruments that have come in contact with the patient in undiluted
chlorine bleach for an hour or more, then use an
autoclave (pressure
cooker) to sterilize them in distilled water for at least one hour at 132 - 134
degrees Centigrade.
What Research Is Taking Place?
Many researchers are studying CJD. They are examining
whether the transmissible agent is, in fact, a prion or a product of the
infection, and are
trying to discover factors that influence prion infectivity and how the disorder
damages the brain. Using rodent models of the disease and brain tissue from
autopsies, they are also trying to identify factors that influence
susceptibility to the disease and that govern when in life the disease appears.
They hope to use this knowledge to develop improved tests for CJD and to learn
what changes ultimately kill the neurons so that effective treatments can be
developed.
Next: How can I help research? »
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