Prion proteins are the infectious agents that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans. These proteins are particularly resistant to normal sterilization procedures, and the theoretical risk of prion transmission via surgical instruments is of current public and professional concern. We are currently investigating fluorescence methods for the detection of proteins on surfaces, with a view to developing an optical-fiber-based system for routine, online monitoring of residual protein contamination on surgical instruments, in hospital sterilization departments. This paper presents preliminary results on the detection of femtomole amounts of fluorescently labelled protein on surgical steel and discusses some of the problems involved in the detection of fluorescence from metal samples.