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Pathologic prion proteins have been clearly associated with the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. These proteins elude many conventional chemical and physical procedures for cleaning, disinfecting, and sterilizing surgical instruments and medical devices. In a recent study supported by the manufacturer of a hydrogen-peroxide sterilizer, investigators in Germany used an infectivity model involving hamsters and prion-contaminated steel wires to test various techniques for decontaminating surgical instruments. Steel wires were immersed in 10% brain homogenates from hamsters with scrapie, air-dried, treated by one of several disinfection strategies (hydrogen peroxide baths, hydrogen peroxide sterilizers, enzymatic detergents, peracetic…