-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.guardian.co.uk/bse/article/0,2763,768641,00.html
Tests reveal CJD blood risk Tests reveal CJD blood risk James Meikle, health correspondent Saturday August 3, 2002 The Guardian Scientists say there is "an appreciable risk" of people catching the human form of BSE through blood transfusions, a significant upgrading of the threat posed by the inevitably fatal disease. The results from tests on sheep, seen by the Guardian, suggest the danger is far more serious than first suspected. Previously the risk has been described by the government as "theoretical". One in six animals given blood from infected sheep appear to have caught the disease so far. The experiments by scientists at the Institute of Animal Health indicate that more blood components than previously thought might carry the killer agents of BSE and variant CJD, and the blood might be infective long before animals, and by extension humans, show outward signs of the long-incubating diseases. The findings, circulated to blood specialists, are regarded as enormously significant. They have prompted urgent consideration of new measures to protect the public and orders to hospitals to drastically reduce their use of blood, including using technology that allows the recycling of patients' own blood. But the Department of Health and blood transfusion services last night appealed to the public to continue donating blood. The national blood service, which has nearly 2m donors in England and Wales, said: "We still need to collect about 10,000 units a day because there are people in hospital who rely on transfusions. We need to strike a balance between an unknown risk and maintaining sufficient supplies." A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "These findings appear to justify the precautionary approach taken by the department to reduce the risk of vCJD transmission through blood and surgical instruments. Our assessment has been that the blood of variant CJD patients may contain transmissible levels of infectivity before clinical signs are apparent." So far 115 Britons have died and nine others are thought to be dying from vCJD, for which the prime culprit still to be appears contaminated meat eaten many years ago. The government has introduced precautionary measures over blood but it considered the risk theoretical even after autumn 2000, when scientists in Edinburgh and Compton, Berkshire, revealed that the blood from a sheep fed cattle brain infected with BSE had infected a previously healthy animal. All blood given to humans has the white cells removed because they are regarded as potentially the most dangerous carriers of vCJD through transfusion. Most plasma is imported because of risks to haemophiliacs who have a constant need for the blood clotting factors. The government is considering banning all people who have ever received transfusions from donating blood, a decision that might remove one in 10 donors; importing more plasma, particularly for transfusions in babies and young children; and forcing the removal of plasma from blood platelets. Expert advisers are expected to make recommendations within weeks, but importing red blood cells, most widely used to replace blood lost in surgery, would be impossible. They have a shelf life of 35 days and are in short supply around the world. The possibility of a blood test for vCJD next year, though essential for public safety, might dissuade up to half Britain's donors from offering blood, because people would have to face being told they have an incurable disease. The latest experiments suggest that plasma and red cells might have significant infectivity. So far there is no evidence that anyone infected with vCJD has passed it on to others through transfusion. Twenty-two people have received donations from eight people who later went down with the disease, and although some of those have died, vCJD was not considered a factor. At least four people with vCJD had earlier had blood donations, but again transfusion has not been considered a factor. The scientists who made the transfusion of infected blood between sheep, are to report in the Journal of General Virology in November. They say another sheep has gone down with BSE and two more are showing clinical signs of the disease. If those cases are confirmed, one in six of the 24 sheep transfused with either whole blood or a component, will have succumbed through transfusion. 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