5 new patients may have been exposed to brain disease

Five new patients at a Massachusetts hospital may have been exposed to a fatal brain disease from surgical tools used on a person who died, doctors said. A statement from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Thursday said doctors at Cape Cod Hospital used the same neurosurgical equipment this summer that was used at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, N.H., on a woman who had The woman died and an autopsy was scheduled to determine whether she had the disease. An autopsy is the only way Creutzfeldt-Jakob can be diagnosed, CNN said. Officials at the New Hampshire hospital said up to eight patients at their facility were exposed to the disease after the same equipment was used on them. The total number of patients that may have been exposed is 13, CNN reported. Officials in New Hampshire said chances were very low the patients had been exposed to the disease. The surgical procedures in New Hampshire took place between May and August, those in Massachusetts between July and August. A person may not display any symptoms up to several decades after exposure to the disease officials said. The National Institutes of Health say it cannot be transmitted to other people through the air or human contact. The usual method of sterilizing surgical equipment -- with heat -- does not kill the proteins that cause the disease. The World Health Organization recommends the use of caustic chemicals like sodium hydroxide to sterilize surgical equipment that may have come in contact with the disease.