Yes. Although CJD was first described in the 1920's, it was not considered a transmissible disease until 1966.¹⁹

In 1974 a case of CJD transmission as the result of a corneal transplant was reported.²⁰

In 1977 CJD transmission caused by silver electroencephalograph electrodes previously used in the brain of a person with CJD was reported. The transmission occurred despite decontamination of the electrodes between patients.²¹

In 1985 there were a series of case reports showing that cadaver-extracted pituitary human growth hormone could transmit CJD.²² Shortly thereafter, it was shown that human gonadotropin administered by injection could also transmit CJD from person to person.²³

CJD was first reported in a recipient of a dura matter transplant in 1987.²⁴

As of today, over two dozen cases of CJD exist among healthcare workers including physicians, neurologists, pathologists, and laboratory technicians exposed to CJD. There are as yet no documented cases of transfer of the disease from a deceased patient to mortuary staff.

However, the cause of 80-85% of the cases of CJD is unknown and because it can take up to 25 years for symptoms of CJD to develop, it could be decades before we find out the true number of infections of CJD in healthcare workers exposed to patients with the disease.

Since this is a neurological disease, the cerebro-spinal fluid is highly infectious. The transmissible agent has also been shown to be present in the brain, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, lungs, spinal cord, kidneys, cornea and lens, bone, and to a much lesser degree, blood.

It is not found in tears, nasal mucous, saliva, urine, or feces. Therefore, there is little risk involved in becoming infected by casual contact or by living with a person with CJD.²⁵

That is the question being debated and researched at the present time. Although there have been no documented cases of CJD resulting from blood or blood transfusion, consider the following:

The Red Cross will not accept blood from a person with CJD symptoms or family history of CJD. A history of CJD disqualifies a patient from being an organ donor.

Human CJD has been reported to have been transmitted to mice by the injection of infected blood from human patients into mouse brain.²⁶

Studies of experimental CJD in guinea pigs and mice have shown that the infectious agent is present in the blood before clinical disease develops.²⁷

Sufficient evidence of animal transmission suggests that the disease has the potential to be transmitted through blood. Human epidemiological evidence only indicates that if blood transmission occurs, it is likely rare.²⁸

Cases have been found of CJD among persons who have received blood transfusions, but the link between the disease and the transfusion has not been proven. Four Australians have been reported with CJD following transfusion. However, the source of the blood transfusions was undocumented.²⁹ There is a recent report in the western United States of three patients contracting CJD and dying after receiving a transfusion from a person who had CJD. This has not been confirmed.

Several cases of CJD following a blood component (albumin) transfusion have been reported. Two cases have been confirmed to have come from a person who died of CJD.³⁰

The members of the Special Emphasis Panel on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, have agreed that, "an unqualified and irreducible risk of exposure to CJD through blood and blood products does exist..."³¹

Since there is no definitive direct evidence of infection from blood transfusions, there obviously can be no answer to whether or not CJD can be contracted by other blood contact. However, the absence of evidence is not evidence of the absence of transmission of CJD through blood.³²

So there is as yet no definitive answer to the question, but the evidence would suggest that extreme caution in exposure to blood is warranted.

The risk of infection from aerosols, droplets, and exposure to intact skin, gastric and mucous membranes is not known.

Nevertheless, the National Institutes of Health strongly cautions laboratory workers to avoid the generation of aerosols and droplets during the manipulation of tissues or fluids known or suspected to be contaminated with CJD.³³

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