Health care providers: Help
us effectively monitor for TSE cases by arranging autopsies
for suspected CJD cases, listing CJD on death certificates and
reporting cases to the local health department.
Report all human cases of CJD or TSE to your local health
department:
A definitive
CJD diagnosis can only be made by neuropathological examination
of brain tissue obtained through biopsy or autopsy. Although
CJD may be suspected on the basis of clinical symptoms and the
results of other diagnostic tests, they are not confirmatory.
Because these diseases are rare and difficult to diagnose, the
CA Department of Public Health’s surveillance case definition
requires that the diagnosis of CJD be made either by a neurologist
or confirmed by biopsy or autopsy.
Alert
us for suspected vCJD or iatrogenic CJD:
Contact us by email, cjd@ceip.us or telephone (510) 350-3399.
We are particularly interested if you are caring for a CJD patient
with any of the following:
• Younger than 55 years of age
• Suspected diagnosis of variant CJD (see CDC's
Diagnostic Criteria for Variant CJD)
• History of neurosurgical procedure or receiving cadaver-derived
human pituitary growth hormone, dura mater grafts, or corneal
grafts (Note: for these possible iatrogenic cases, your local
public health department must also be notified.)
• History of deer or elk meat consumption from states
with endemic chronic wasting disease
(CO, IL, KS, NE, NY, SD, UT, WI, WV, WY).
Arrange for an autopsy on all suspected CJD cases:
We encourage providers to arrange brain autopsies for all clinically
diagnosed or suspected CJD cases, regardless of age, in order
to confirm the precise type of CJD. Our continued efforts to
conduct surveillance for CJD will be greatly enhanced by increasing
the proportion of CJD cases that are confirmed through autopsy
tissue. The National
Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (NPDPSC) can
assist in coordinating autopsies.
Clearly indicate the diagnosis of CJD on death certificates:
By having the CJD ICD-10 code A81.0 on the death certificate,
you will help improve our surveillance efforts through death
data review.
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