Throughout the 130 plus years of modern embalming, funeral service has faced many infectious and potentially fatal diseases and has still found ways to serve families and protect the public health.

We have survived the emergence of TB, polio, hepatitis, and HIV/AIDS because we have formaldehyde and other embalming chemicals that effectively kill the bacteria and viruses that cause these diseases and we have learned to protect ourselves from infection during the embalming process.

As long as we never encounter an organism that is resistant to formaldehyde and other embalming chemicals, and as long as we have the means to protect ourselves, we will always be able to serve the public with our skills.

But what if, in the future, an organism comes along that we can not destroy through embalming? What then?

Well, the future is now. Such a disease exists.

• There is no diagnostic test for it
• You can have it for up to 25 years and not know it
• There is no vaccine
• There is no cure
• There is no treatment
• It is infectious
• It is always fatal
• Formaldehyde doesn't touch it
• There are no embalming chemicals that will kill it
• Common methods of disinfection and sterilization won't kill it

Its called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

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