UK Finds Third Blood-Linked Human Mad Cow Case
Date: 10-Feb-06
Country: UK
The case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was diagnosed in a patient who had received a transfusion eight years ago.
The donor had developed symptoms of the fatal disease 20 months after giving the blood.
Variant CJD is the human equivalent of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, linked to eating meat infected with BSE.
The illnesses are caused by brain proteins that transform themselves into infectious agents.
Britain has recorded 160 cases of vCJD, of whom 154 have since died.
The agency said the case was further evidence that vCJD can also be transmitted by blood transfusion. The first two cases linked to donated blood were reported in 2004.
The patient is one of a small number of less than 30 living individuals in Britain known to have received blood from donors who later developed vCJD.
Doctors for all these patients have been contacted about the diagnosis, said Peter Borriello, Director of the HPA's Centre for Infections.
"This is to ensure that these patients are informed of this new development and have access to the latest information and to specialist advice about their situation," he said.
In an attempt to prevent further cases, the Department of Health no longer accepts blood donations from people who have themselves received blood since 1980.