In 1985 the first case was reported in a recipient of contaminated human derived growth hormone and subsequently over 60 similar cases have arisen world-wide in addition to 4 cases associated with human derived gonadotrophin.

An epidemiological survey of hGH recipients in France was conducted after the first CJD deaths in America in 1985. The survey found no hint of the disease because it wasn't until 1989 that the first probable case of CJD in France emerged. A second case was discovered soon after and a new epidemiological survey was launched in June 1990. Carried out by the French Institute of Health and Medical Research and Association France Hypophyse, that survey was completed in December 1990 but included patients who had been followed for longer. The results were published in 1992, by which time three children had died of CJD and seven more were suspected of dying from it.