How can you avoid spreading CJD?

To reduce the already low risk of CJD transmission from one person to another, you should never donate blood, tissues, or organs if you have suspected or confirmed CJD, a family history of the disease, had a dura mater graft, received human-derived pituitary hormones, or had a corneal transplant.

Normal sterilization procedures such as cooking, washing, and boiling do not destroy the abnormal 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, spinal fluid or other tissues.
• Use face protection if there is a risk of splashing contaminated material such as blood or cerebrospinal fluid (the water-like fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord).
• 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. The use of disposable neurosurgical instruments should be considered.
• Fact sheets listing additional precautions for healthcare workers and morticians are available from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

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