Detection of pathologic prion protein in the olfactory epithelium in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Abnormal prion proteins may be present in the nasal mucosa of patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, according to a study of nine patients. This disease is the human version of mad cow disease, which is technically called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. The presence of the abnormal prion protein responsible for these two diseases in the nose means the protein may be transmitted by contaminated surgical instruments. A nasal biopsy could also be a means of diagnosing the disease in its early stages.