Greenville Memorial Hospital is part of the Greenville Hospital System. (File/FOX Carolina)COLUMBIA, SC (AP) -
A Greenville hospital plans to increase the temperature used to sterilize its surgical instruments after a patient was discovered to have a rare brain disease that is always fatal.
Greenville Hospital System said a patient who had surgery in February at the hospital was later diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, potentially exposing the 11 people who had surgery afterward.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there has never been a case involving transmission of the disease through surgical instruments in the United States.
The hospital said it warned patients and decided to institute sterilization measures greater than the CDC requires out of an abundance of caution.
Officials said the hospital has completed an investigation of the incident that found it followed proper procedures.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
