Health professions and risk of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, 1965 to 2010

E Alcalde-Cabero; J Almazán-Isla; J P Brandel; M Breithaupt; J Catarino; S Collins; J Haybäck; R Höftberger; E Kahana; G G Kovacs; A Ladogana; E Mitrova; A Molesworth; Y Nakamura; M Pocchiari; M Popovic; M Ruiz-Tovar; A L Taratuto; C van Duijn; M Yamada; R G Will; I Zerr; J de Pedro Cuesta

doi:10.2807/ese.17.15.20144-en

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Health professions and risk of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, 1965 to 2010
E Alcalde-Cabero¹ , J Almazán-Isla¹ , J P Brandel² , M Breithaupt³ , J Catarino⁴ , S Collins⁵ , J Haybäck⁶ , R Höftberger⁷ , E Kahana⁸ , G G Kovacs^7,9 , A Ladogana¹⁰ , E Mitrova¹¹ , A Molesworth¹² , Y Nakamura¹³ , M Pocchiari¹⁰ , M Popovic¹⁴ , M Ruiz-Tovar¹ , A L Taratuto¹⁵ , C van Duijn¹⁶ , M Yamada¹⁷ , R G Will¹² , I Zerr³ , J de Pedro Cuesta¹
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Affiliations: ¹ National Centre of Epidemiology - Consortium for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas – CIBERNED), Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain ² Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) UMRS 975, National CJD Surveillance Network, Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP), National Reference Centre for CJD, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital Group, Paris, France ³ Department of Neurology, National Reference Centre for TSE, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany ⁴ Alameda Epidemiology and Health Statistics Department, Lisbon, Portugal ⁵ Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia ⁶ Institute of Neuropathology, Zurich University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland ⁷ Institute of Neurology, Vienna Medical University, Vienna, Austria ⁸ Department of Neurology, Barzilai Medical Centre, Ashkelon, Israel ⁹ National Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary ¹⁰ Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Health Institute, Rome, Italy ¹¹ Department of Prion Diseases, Slovak Medical University Research Base, Bratislava, Slovakia ¹² National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom ¹³ Department of Public Health, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Japan ¹⁴ Institute of Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia ¹⁵ Department of Neuropathology/FLENI, Referral Centre for CJD and other TSEs, Institute for Neurological Research, Buenos Aires, Argentina ¹⁶ National Surveillance of CJD, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ¹⁷ Neurology Department, Kanazawa University Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan

Correspondence:
J de Pedro Cuesta
jpedro isciii.es
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Citation style for this article: Alcalde-Cabero E , Almazán-Isla J , Brandel J P , Breithaupt M , Catarino J , Collins S , Haybäck J , Höftberger R , Kahana E , Kovacs G G , Ladogana A , Mitrova E , Molesworth A , Nakamura Y , Pocchiari M , Popovic M , Ruiz-Tovar M , Taratuto A L , van Duijn C , Yamada M , Will R G , Zerr I , de Pedro Cuesta J . Health professions and risk of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, 1965 to 2010. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(15):pii=20144. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.15.20144-en Received: 04 Nov 2011

Abstract

In 2009, a pathologist with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (sCJD) was reported to the Spanish registry. This case prompted a request for information on health-related occupation in sCJD cases from countries participating in the European Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease Surveillance network (EuroCJD). Responses from registries in 21 countries revealed that of 8,321 registered cases, 65 physicians or dentists, two of whom were pathologists, and another 137 healthcare workers had been identified with sCJD. Five countries reported 15 physicians and 68 other health professionals among 2,968 controls or non-cases, suggesting no relative excess of sCJD among healthcare professionals. A literature review revealed: (i) 12 case or small case-series reports of 66 health professionals with sCJD, and (ii) five analytical studies on health-related occupation and sCJD, where statistically significant findings were solely observed for persons working at physicians' offices (odds ratio: 4.6 (95 CI: 1.2-17.6)). We conclude that a wide spectrum of medical specialities and health professions are represented in sCJD cases and that the data analysed do not support any overall increased occupational risk for health professionals. Nevertheless, there may be a specific risk in some professions associated with direct contact with high human-infectivity tissue.