Mad Cow Precaution: Britain Bars Transfusion Recipients as Blood Donors

LONDON, UK, March 19, 2004 (ENS) - People who received blood transfusions in the United Kingdom after 1979 will not be permitted to donate blood in the future as a precaution against the transmission of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD), Health Secretary John Reid has announced. The fatal brain disease is the human form of mad cow disease contracted by consuming infected beef.

Donor gives blood at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. (Photo courtesy SNBTF)

The National Blood Service estimates a loss of 52,000 blood donors as a result of the new policy.

Individual cattle were probably first infected by mad cow disease in the 1970s, a national BSE Inquiry found, but the British government did not formally identify it until 1986. The disease turned into an epidemic from 1989 through 1996. To date, more than 183,800 cattle in Great Britain have been diagnosed with the disease.

For 10 years the British government told the public - there is no evidence that BSE can be transmitted to humans, it is most unlikely that BSE poses any risk to humans; and it is safe to eat beef. But in 1996 the government admitted that mad cow disease was being transmitted to humans and it was called variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease.

As of March 1, 2004 there have been 146 definite and probable cases of vCJD diagnosed in the UK, one case each in the Republic of Ireland, Italy, United States, Canada, and Hong Kong, and six cases in France.

Health Secretary Reid's announcement Tuesday follows the government's revelation last December of the first report of a possible transmission of vCJD from person to person via blood. This remains a possibility and not a proven causal connection.

British Health Secretary John Reid (Photo courtesy DOH)

Reid said the risk associated with these donors "may be slightly higher than for the population as a whole." He encouraged people to accept blood transfusions "when it is really necessary."

"Any slight risk associated with receiving blood must be balanced against the significant risk of not receiving that blood when it is most needed," Reid said.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, such as mad cow disease and its human form, vCJD, are spread by prions - abnormally shaped proteins that originate as regular components of neurological tissues in animals - they are not cellular organisms or viruses.

Mad cow disease spreads from one animal to another by consumption of feed that has been contaminated by these proteins, such as blood or meat meal, that contains nervous system tissue from an infected animal. The human form of the disease can be transmitted if a person eats BSE infected meat, or possibly through blood transfusions.

Cattle feeding time in England. The feeding of nervous system tissue from cattle to other cattle is now prohibited. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

Reid also announced that Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson will draw up a strategy to ensure more appropriate and effective use of blood in the National Health Service. This strategy will attempt to conserve blood stocks through better use of blood in hospitals.

"People who can should continue to give blood," Reid said. "We place great value on those who already donate and would welcome new donors."

The blood donor restriction is the latest in a number of measures that have already been implemented to minimize the possible risk of vCJD being passed through blood.

• Since 1997 all cases of vCJD that are reported to the National CJD Surveillance Unit and diagnosed as having ‘probable’ vCJD, result in a search of the National Blood Service blood donor records. If the patient has given blood, any stocks of that blood are immediately destroyed.

• Since 1998, plasma derivatives, such as clotting factors, have been prepared from plasma imported from the United States.

• Since October 1999, white blood cells - which may carry the greatest risk of transmitting vCJD - have been removed from all blood used for transfusion.

• In August 2002 the Health Department announced that fresh frozen plasma for treating babies and young children born after January 1, 1996 would be obtained from the United States.

• In December 2002, the Health Department completed its purchase of the largest remaining independent U.S. plasma collector, Life Resources Inc. This secures long-term supplies of non-UK blood plasma for the benefit of National Health Service patients.

The findings of a United Kingdom BSE Inquiry were published in 2000. They are available online at: http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/index.htm