Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease 
The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Working Group (ACDP TSE Working Group) has revised Annex J of the TSE Infection Control guidance. The guidance recommends that before they have any surgery or endoscopy, all patients should be asked if they have ever been told that they are at increased risk of CJD or vCJD.
Public health advice on how to stop CJD spreading to other people
This advice is for people who have been identified as being at increased risk of CJD. To reduce the risk of spreading CJD to other people please follow this advice:
- Don't donate blood. No-one who is at increased risk of CJD or who has received blood donatation since 1980 should donate blood.
- Don't donate organs or tissues, including bone marrow, sperm, eggs or breast milk.
- If you are going to have any medical, dental or surgical procedures, tell whoever is treating you beforehand so they can make special arrangements for the instruments used to treat you.
- You are advised to tell your family about your increased risk. Your family can then tell the people who are treating you about your risk of CJD if you need any medical or surgical procedures in the future and are unable to tell them yourself.
Information relating to the at-risk notification of individuals is available in the following documents. These can be downloaded in pdf format.
Two information leaflets have been produced for patients:
We have also prepared two information leaflets for doctors and healthcare staff:
Pre-surgical assessment for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) risk in neurosurgery and eye surgery units
The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Working Group (ACDP TSE Working Group) has revised Annex J of the TSE Infection Control guidance which now advises that patients who are due to have high risk surgery1 or neuro-endoscopy should be asked supplementary questions as to whether they have any family history of prion disease; recieved growth hormone or gonadotrophin treatment; ever had surgery on their brain or spinal cord or received transfusions of blood or blood components from 80 or more donors since 1980.
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) has been working with the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to develop a pre-surgical assessment process. Details of this process and all other documents relating to this assessment process are available below.
Pre-surgical assessment for vCJD risk in neurosurgery and eye surgery units documents
The following documents have been prepared by HPS, the HPA and the ACDP TSE Working Group to support the pre-surgical assessment for vCJD risk in neurosurgery and eye surgery units.
Background
Pre-surgical assessment tools
Pre-surgical patient information
Annex J
Revised Annex J of the ACDP TSE Working Group Infection Control guidance
(external link to ACDP TSE WG website). (Revised 25 January 2010)
The following Items from Annex J have been adapted for Scotland,
Other Reports/Publications
Contact Information
Contacts for the CJD Section in Health Protection Scotland
Email: nss.hpscjd@nhs.net
1High risk surgery is defined as surgery involving any of the following organs or tissues (high risk tissues): brain, spinal cord, dura mater, cranial nerves (specifically the entire optic nerve and only the intracranial components of the other cranial nerves), cranial nerve ganglia, posterior eye (specifically the posterior hyaloid face, retina, retinal pigment epithelium, choroid, subretinal fluid, optic nerve) and pituitary gland.
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