Novant Health's Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., has notified 18 patients of possible exposure to Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, according to a report from CNN.
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease is an incurable neurodegenerative disease caused by prions.
The exposure occurred after a Jan. 18 operation on a patient who was later found to have CJD. While the instruments used in the patient's operation were sterilized, they were not subjected to the enhanced sterilization procedures used for suspected or confirmed CJD cases, according to a hospital release.
While the hospital believes the risk to the patients on whom the instruments were subsequently used is minimal, it is in the process of notifying the patients. It is unclear how many patients have been notified at this time, according to the report from CNN.
Since the realization, the hospital has performed enhanced sterilization on all brain surgery surgical instruments, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent future incidents, according to the hospital release.
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