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Some Surgery May Be Risk Factor For CJD LONDON, ENGLAND -- Feb. 26, 1999 -- Australian researchers Dr. S. Collins and colleagues investigated the risk factors for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and found that a range of surgical treatments may serve as unrecognised contamination events and account for a proportion of cases of sporadic CJD. They report their full findings in this week's issue of The Lancet. There are two types of CJD: variant CJD, which is linked to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and which is specific to the United Kingdom and sporadic CJD, which accounts for most cases of the disease (85 to 95 percent) and occurs world-wide. The cause of sporadic CJD is not known. Dr. Collins and colleagues set out to identify the risk factors for sporadic CJD. They compared the medical history and demographic characteristics of 241 definite and probable cases of CJD with 784 healthy volunteers (controls). The investigators obtained the information on the 241 cases of CJD from records kept by the Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry. Cases that occurred between 1970 and 1993 were used in the study. The main finding was that there was a significant association between surgical procedures and the development of sporadic CJD. This risk increased with the number of surgical treatments. The risk was greatest in individuals who had undergone more than three operations. The other factors linked to risk of sporadic CJD were residence or employment on a farm or market garden for more than 10 years. Blood transfusion, organ transplantation and major dental work were not linked to risk of the disease. The investigators conclude that their findings should reinforce the heightened vigilance about infection control at all levels of care in hospital settings and suggest that their results could also have implications for risk factors of variant CJD. Related Links: The Lancet E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version