After a patient was confirmed to have an infectious brain disease, the Maine Medical Center in Portland suspended elective surgeries in order to sterilize its surgical equipment and facilities, according to an article on the Press-Herald website.
The patient was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal degenerative brain disorder caused by an infectious type of protein.
The hospital said it is now looking at the procedures it performed and the instruments that were used prior to the initial biopsy to determine which patients should be contacted because they might be at risk.
The disease can be transmitted through contaminated food, usually meat, or through medical and surgical procedures, according to the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center website.
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