Abstract
It is almost a decade since the recognition of the emergence of a new infectious disease termed variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) caused by prions (PrPTSE), abnormal variants of a normal human cell surface protein (PrP). This disease has a number of similarities to other forms of CJD - lethal disorders characterized by a prolonged incubation period, and progressive mental deterioration. In relation to oral tissues, PrPTSE have been found in neural, gingival, pulpal, lingual, lymphoreticular and salivary gland tissue in animal models. In both sporadic and variant CJD, PrPTSE is detectable in the trigeminal ganglion and, in vCJD, in lymphoreticular tissues, but infectivity has not been tested in other human oral tissues.