Five patients who underwent surgery at a Cape Cod Hospital this summer may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease after their surgeries were performed using the same potentially contaminated medical equipment found in a New Hampshire hospital, according to a statement released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Thursday.
The specialized medical equipment had originally been used to operate on a patient now suspected of having Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday.
The now-deceased patient had neurosurgery at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, and normal sterilization procedures don’t get rid of the disease proteins, known as prions, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
The surgical equipment used at both hospitals was from Medtronic Inc. according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
