Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease associated with cadaveric dura mater grafts -- Japan, January 1979-May 1996.

In 1997, a nongovernmental surveillance group for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in Japan reported to the Ministry of Health and Welfare its analysis of a 1996 mail questionnaire survey of neurologic, psychiatric, and neuropathologic institutions throughout Japan. This analysis identified 829 patients with CJD diagnosed by physicians during January 1979-May 1996, including a large number (43 patients) who had received a cadaveric dura mater graft during a neurosurgical (42) or orthopedic (one) procedure during 1979-1991. This report presents a summary of features of these 43 cases, which indicated that at least 41 of these patients had received dura mater grafts from the same processor, and describes CJD in the most recent recipient of a dura mater graft. The findings indicate that an international outbreak of CJD associated with a single brand of dura mater grafts is larger than previously recognized and that recipients of contaminated grafts may remain at risk for CJD at least 16 years following receipt of grafts.