Dr. Joseph Pepe called the Catholic Medical Center patients a day after health officials announced that they may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease — a brain disease characterized by rapidly progressive dementia which can cause death within months after symptoms first appearing. It has no treatment or cure.
Officials believe the extremely rare disease caused the August death of a patient who had brain surgery at the hospital in May, although the cause of death won't be certain until more tests are completed. If that patient had Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, there's a remote chance it was transmitted to other brain surgery patients because the abnormal proteins that cause the disease can survive standard sterilization practices.
In addition to the eight Catholic Medical Center patients, health officials in Massachusetts said five patients there may have also been exposed because a specialized instrument used on the New Hampshire patient had been rented and reused at Cape Cod Hospital.
The Massachusetts patients have also been notified but are believed to be at low risk because they had spinal procedures, not brain surgery, the state health department said.
