Potential Epidemic of Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease from Human Growth Hormone Therapy

A DECADE after the demonstration that Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease could be accidentally transmitted from one person to another during brain or eye surgery, 1 , 2 iatrogenic Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease has reappeared as a result of earlier therapy with human growth hormone, with the ominous possibility of a burgeoning epidemic. Within just a few months, three young adults in the United States have died from the disease, confirmed neuropathologically in two patients and clinically detected but unconfirmed in one 3 ; an additional neuropathologically confirmed case has been identified in Great Britain. 4 Salient data on these four cases are summarized in Table 1. (The details of both . . .