( CNN ) -- Doctors and hospital officials from Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem , North Carolina , are notifying 18 neurosurgery patients that they might have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease , a serious and incurable neurological disorder . `` Today we are reaching out to 18 neurosurgery patients who were exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease over the last three weeks at Forsyth Medical Center , '' said Jeff Lindsay , president of the center , according to CNN affiliate WGHP . The hospital is in the process of contacting the 18 people , spokeswoman Jeanne Mayer said Tuesday . She was not sure how many had been reached . According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke , CJD affects about one person in every 1 million people per year worldwide . `` It is important to note that there are multiple variations of CJD and this case is not related to mad cow disease , '' Novant Health said in a statement . The hospital confirmed that on January 18 , an operation was performed on a patient with CJD symptoms who later tested positive for the illness . Even though the surgical instruments were sterilized by standard hospital procedures , they should have gone through enhanced sterilization procedures used when there are confirmed or suspected cases of CJD . The original patient `` had neurological symptoms that could have been attributed to CJD or another brain disease , '' Novant Health said . `` There were reasons to suspect that this patient might have had CJD . As such , the extra precautions should have been taken , but were not . '' The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , as well as the World Health Organization , recommends that surgical equipment used on CJD patients be destroyed or decontaminated through an intense disinfecting process . Although CJD can be transferred through surgical equipment , hospital officials say the likelihood of these patients contracting the disease is very low . The CDC corroborates that assessment . It says that no cases of the disease have been linked to the use of contaminated medical equipment since 1976 . But Lindsay made no excuses . `` On behalf of the entire team at Novant Health , I apologize to the patients and their families , for having caused this anxiety . '' CJD is a rare , degenerative and fatal brain disorder , according to the National Institutes of Health . It 's characterized by rapid , progressive dementia . Initial symptoms can include problems with muscular coordination , personality changes including impaired memory and thinking ; and impaired vision . CJD is believed to be caused by a type of protein called a prion . It can be sporadic , hereditary or acquired ; the acquired type is the rarest form , according to the NIH , and seen in fewer than 1 % of cases . It is not contagious through casual contact . Asked whether the 18 people would be tested , Mayer said there is no quick test for CJD . The original patient underwent brain surgery and then the disease was found through a number of tests afterward , she said . In some cases , CJD can take years to show up , Mayer said . The hospital has instituted the enhanced sterilization process on all surgical instruments used in brain surgery , Novant Health said . In September , 13 patients received similar warnings from two hospitals in New Hampshire and Massachusetts , when a patient who had undergone neurosurgery was later suspected to have CJD . The hospitals shared the specialized surgical equipment that was used to operate on the patient and continued to use it until the suspicion of exposure to the disease surfaced . Learn more about Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease . 30,000 in Britain may carry human form of mad cow .
CDC says no one has been known to get CJD from surgical instruments since 1976 . 18 surgery patients getting news : They may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob . The disease is a serious and incurable neurological disorder . Hospital says instruments used in a surgery did n't get the approved sterilization .