True or False: Instruments used with patients having Creutzfeld-Jakob disease can be disinfected by soaking in Cidex.

Instruments used with patients having Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) must undergo very strict decontamination protocols because CJD is caused by prions, which are infectious proteins that can resist standard disinfection methods. Cidex, a solution of glutaraldehyde, is effective for sterilizing certain medical instruments but is not sufficient to inactivate prions. Therefore, simply soaking instruments in Cidex will not effectively eliminate the risk of transmission of CJD. The appropriate method for dealing with instruments exposed to prion-contaminated tissue involves incineration or using specialized sterilization protocols that exceed the capability of standard disinfectants like Cidex.

Understanding the resilience of prions and the inadequacies of typical disinfectants is crucial for infection control in surgical settings, especially when dealing with high-risk diseases such as CJD.