Novant Health has reported three more patients may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., according to a Winston-Salem Journal report.
This latest update follows an initial announcement from the hospital in February, saying it notified 18 patients of a possible exposure to the disease after an operation on a patient, who was later found to have CJD. The instruments used in the operation were sterilized, but they did not undergo the enhanced sterilization procedures used for instruments involved in surgery on suspected or confirmed CJD cases.
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Three of the 18 originally notified patients are no longer considered at risk, according to the report.
Caryn Klebba, Novant spokesperson, said in the report the North Carolina Department of Health Service Regulation conducted a survey in February and "determined that we had taken the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future."
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