title: Iatrogenic and zoonotic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: the Australian perspective.
abstract: The transmissible brain diseases of humans and animals, the spongiform encephalopathies, continue to stimulate interest, and the announcement that exposure to "mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy [BSE]) is a possible explanation for more than 10 cases of a variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans in the United Kingdom is a recent example. Cases of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (from previous use of human cadaveric tissues for pituitary hormone therapy and neurosurgical grafts) are still being identified, and the unique nosological status of this group of disorders-that they are both transmissible and inherited and that the only known component of their infectious agent is protein-alone makes these diseases remarkable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Masters
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission*; D004388:Dura Mater / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D010907:Pituitary Hormones