Handling Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Tissues in the Histology Laboratory

Abstract

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) resembles two other diseases, kuru (found in New Guinea tribesmen) and scrapie (found in sheep). CJD is a slow progressive dementia of the central nervous system. The transmissible agent of CJD is unusual for several reasons: It has a long incubation period, up to eight years in some cases; it does not provoke an inflammatory reaction within infected tissues; it has never been isolated; it is resistant to routine paraffin processing. Histotechnologists need to be informed of the potential hazards and of the correct handling of tissues infected with this unconventional agent, even though it has low transmissibility. Treatment of CJD tissues with long sterilization at high temperatures or prolonged exposure to bleach has proven effective in deactivating the agent. This article outlines the precautionary procedures used in our laboratory when processing CJD tissues. (J Histotechnol 12:214, 1989).

Keywords:

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• kuru
• scrapie