Meat eaters face ban on 'clean' transfusions amid new CJD fears

In the UK;

By Beezy Marsh and Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 10:00 PM on 07th March 2009


Patients who eat meat could be banned from receiving the safest blood supplies to halt the spread of the human form of mad cow disease.

Only vegetarians and children under the age of 16 who need transfusions would get imported blood, which is thought to be free of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), under proposals by Government advisers.

The suggestion by the Government's advisory committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (Sabto) comes amid growing concern that contaminated blood from UK donors could lead to a second wave of infection.

Minutes of Sabto meetings held last year reveal experts are considering limiting the 'risk reduction option' to those least likely to have been exposed to BSE in the Nineties, if the measures 'could not be applied to all recipients on grounds of feasibility or cost-effectiveness'.

The blood would be sourced from countries where there has not been an outbreak to reduce the risk of supplies being infected.

However, there is no guarantee that imported blood is free of vCJD because there is no screening test.

The proposals have angered campaigners, who say everyone should be guaranteed safe blood.

Gill Turner, national co-ordinator of the CJD Support Network, said: 'I have concerns about the segmentation of clean blood.

'There's never any proof that someone is completely free from exposure to vCJD. People should not be discriminated against.'

Of the 2.5million transfusions in British hospitals every year, up to 438 may expose patients to the disease, according to official Government estimates.

Four people have died after being infected in this way.

Key advisory committees on vCJD suggest thousands more patients may be 'carrying' the fatal condition without developing symptoms, which means if they donate blood they are putting other patients at risk.

Plasma, the liquid in blood that helps it to clot, has been sourced from the US since 1998 because of fears it could transmit the disease. Blood tests to screen for vCJD in donations are said to be about a year away.

Retired nurse Judy Kenny, 61, whose husband Deryck was the first person to die in the UK after contracting vCJD from contaminated blood, said: 'I cannot understand why they ever thought blood was safe.

'The key thing should be protecting the whole blood supply. Knowing what I know, if I need an operation I'll donate my own blood.'

The NHS Blood and Transplant authority is carrying out a feasibility study that will report back next month.

A Department of Health spokesman said: 'Every reasonable step has been taken to minimise any risks during blood transfusion.'



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