NH Hospital Patients Exposed to Deadly Brain Disease

Risk is extremely low, though

Five more people may have been exposed to a fatal brain disease after undergoing spinal surgery at a Cape Cod hospital, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Health officials said equipment used during the Cape Cod surgeries was also used on a New Hampshire patient believed to have Creutzfeldt Jakob disease – a degenerative brain disorder spread by infected brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid.

Eight New Hampshire neurosurgery patients have also been contacted about a possible exposure, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.