Blood transfusions may spread mad cow disease

Main Category: CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease
Article Date: 07 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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New evidence seems to indicate that there is an increased chance that the human form of mad cow disease (vCJD) spreads through blood transfusions.

In December 2003, the UK announced that it could have the world's first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) brought about by a blood transfusion. A patient died several years after receiving blood from a donor who was later found to have the illness.

In December the British Health Secretary, John Reid, said that they were not sure whether the patient got the illness as a result of a transfusion.

However, according to two studies (published in The Lancet), infection through blood transfusion is possible.

"Our findings raise the possibility that this infection was transfusion-transmitted," said Professor Robert Will, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Robert Will said that the chances that this patient did NOT get vCJD from a transfusion was about one in fifteen thousand to thirty thousand.

French scientists (French Atomic Energy Commission) found that macaque monkeys can get BSE orally or intravenously.

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