Chemical Disinfection of Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease Virus

Abstract

RECOMMENDATIONS for the disinfection of virus-contaminated tissues from patients with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), published five years ago in the Journal, ¹ relied heavily on data from experiments using mouse-adapted scrapie virus — at that time a more conveniently studied member of the same group of spongiform encephalopathy viruses. We have now accumulated sufficient data on guinea-pig and mouse-adapted viral isolates from two patients with CJD to be able to present current recommendations based on studies of the CJD virus itself. Autoclaving for one hour at a temperature of at least 121°C (15 psi) remains the method of choice for the sterilization . . .