To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence exists of dental patients contracting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob vCJD disease from a contaminated dental instrument.

The Department of Health reported in 2007 that there was currently no evidence of vCJD having been spread by dentistry and this is still the case. The latest guidance from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) on infection control of CJD, vCJD and other human prion diseases in healthcare was published in January 2011 and identifies that the risks of transmission of infection from dental instruments are thought to be very low provided satisfactory standards of infection control and decontamination are maintained.