Transmission of vCJD Via Contact Lenses is a Possibility

A new paper which has studied the possibility of transmission of vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) via contact lenses and other ophthalmic devices, claims that cross-infection is possible.

The study, co-authored by contact lens experts Professor Roger Buckley and Graham Macalister at City University, collated all available information on the subject which first rose to national prominence in June 1999 when the Department of Health warned that trial contact lenses should not be used more than once.

The paper, published in its final form this month by the journal Contact Lens & Anterior Eye(September 2002), sets out to provide the practitioner with an understanding of vCJD and other prion diseases, and their implications for contact lens practice.It discusses factors determining the probability of transmission, evidence related to transmission via the eye, and efforts to provide a decontamination solution.

On the latter subject, the paper agreed with an as yet unpublished study which concluded that tonometer prisms can withstand 100 decontamination cycles in 2 per cent NaOCl (sodium hypochlorite).
(Source: AP Biscom)