BOSTON (Reuters) - New Hampshire's health department warned on Wednesday that eight patients who recently underwent neurosurgery at a Manchester hospital may have been exposed to a rare brain disease.
The exposure may have been the result of a surgery on a ninth patient, who the state department of health and human services said is now believed to have had a sporadic form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a condition similar to "mad cow" disease but not linked to beef consumption.
All eight patients have been notified of their potential exposure, officials said, adding that there was no risk to the general public.
(Reporting by Scott Malone and Richard Valdmanis)