Dept of Health urges calm over vCJD warning, UK

Main Category: CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease
Article Date: 22 Sep 2004 - 15:00 PDT

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Around 4,000 people have received letters warning them that they might have been infected with the human form of vCJD through contaminated blood plasma.

However, the department of health is stressing that risk of being infected are minimal and people should not be unduly worried by receiving the letter.

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: "Throughout our handling of the issue of vCJD we have adopted a highly precautionary approach, taking a series of steps as new evidence became available to maximise the protection of the public."

He added: "This risk assessment continues this approach and identifies three groups of patients who need to know that they may be at a small increased risk of developing vCJD than the rest of the population who ate beef during the 1980s and 1990s."

The government has also set-up a dedicated NHS direct phone line to help deal with any enquires or worries that people may have over the issue.

The majority of those who may have a greater risk of infection are sufferers of haemophilia and were given British clotting agents before safety measures were introduced in 1999.

http://www.hda-online.org.uk

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