Efficact of prion decontamination of medical instruments using alkaline and enzymatic detergents

Introduction / objectives The recent confirmation of Alzheimer’s disease transmissibility, together with the large amount of data regarding the infectious nature of prions and other protein misfolding diseases, highlights the need for reliable protein decontamination of all reusable medical instruments. In order to decontaminate medical instruments of potentially infectious proteins to sterilisation assurance levels similar to current sterilisation techniques, the decontamination protocol should not only remove but, preferably, break up (hydrolyse) the infectious protein into small, water soluble fragments of less than 3-5 KDa. Currently, the proteins are routinely removed during the instruments exposure to either alkaline or enzymatic detergents during washing.