Prion Disease Is Transmitted by Transfusion

Growing evidence shows that infectious prions can cause the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of mad cow disease, to be transmitted through blood transfusion, according to Roger Eglin, Ph.D., head of National Transfusion Microbiology Laboratories for the English National Blood Service (London, UK).

Dr. Eglin spoke at a symposium on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) held in Baltimore (MD, USA). The panelists convened to discuss the adequacy of safeguards and precautionary measures to prevent human-to-human transmission of vCJD. Citing two confirmed cases in the United Kingdom, where vCJD was transmitted from blood donors who were young and apparently healthy, Dr. Eglin said the current decline in reported cases could be followed by a new wave of infections of unknown magnitude around the world. Other panelists noted the recent increase of vCJD in France from six to eight cases and the news that blood from an infected donor was transfused to 10 people and used to manufacture medicines.

The second case of transfusion-transmitted vCJD in the United Kingdom demonstrated that two human genotypes are susceptible to the infectious prion, rather than one as had previously been reported. According to Dr. Eglin, this extends the number of people at risk from 40% to 90% of the UK population. Dr. Eglin also described the measures taken to increase the safety of the blood supply, including deferral of previously transfused donors and 100% leukocyte reduction.

"This may not be a disease in decline, despite the low number of cases today,” said Dr. Eglin. "There is much uncertainty over the number of cases predicted for the U.K. Estimates of up to 25,000 total cases have been predicted, with an incidence of one in 24,000 of the UK population.”




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