Barriers to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease autopsies, California.(Dispatches) From: Emerging Infectious Diseases | Date: September 1, 2004| Author: Belay, Ermias D.; Gavali, Shilpa S.; Hammond, Lucinda H.; Louie, Janice K.; Schonberger, Lawrence B.; Trevejo, Rosalie; Vugia, Duc J. | COPYRIGHT 2004 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) surveillance relies on autopsy and neuropathologic evaluation. The 1990-2000 CJD autopsy rate in California was 21%. Most neurologists were comfortable diagnosing CJD (83%), but few pathologists felt comfortable diagnosing CJD (35%) or performing autopsy (29%). Addressing obstacles to autopsy is necessary to improve CJD surveillance.

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