Enzymatic detergent treatment protocol that reduces protease-resistant prion protein load and infectivity from surgical-steel monofilaments contaminated with a human-derived prion strain

Abstract

The unconventional nature of the infectious agent of prion diseases poses a challenge to conventional infection control methodologies. The extraneural tissue distribution of variant and sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has increased concern regarding the risk of prion disease transmission via general surgical procedures and highlighted the need for decontamination procedures that can be incorporated into routine processing. In this study, the ability of preparations of enzymatic medical instrument cleaners to reduce the infectivity associated with a rodent-adapted strain of human prion disease, previously reported to be resistant to decontamination, was tested. Efficient degradation of the..