Review of guidelines for prevention of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease transmission in medical settings in EU Member States and Norway

Since 1996, following outbreaks of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) in several Member States, both the European Union and individual countries have implemented special public health measures and renewed research efforts in the field of human and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). The purpose of this report is to provide a review of available national documents aimed at controlling the transmission of human TSE in medical settings, taking the epidemiological situation and recent research results into account. The ultimate goal was to identify potential needs and tools useful to Member States for drawing up recommendations suited to their specific needs.