A new study published online in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, risk of transmitting bovine spongiform encephalopathy — commonly known as “mad cow disease” — by blood transfusion is surprisingly high.

This disease is a rare neurodegenerative disorders called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). There is no reliable non-invasive test for detecting infection before the onset of clinical disease.

A new version of CJD (termed vCJD) was recognized in the U.K. in the mid-1990s, as a result of the transmission of the disease to humans. The symptoms of this disease can take many years to appear, it was not known how many people might have been infected, and without a reliable test for identifying these individuals.

Experience control measures were introduced as a precautionary measure to reduce the risk of disease transmission, though at the time it was unclear whether there really was a significant risk or whether the control measures would be effective. This sheep study sought to understand how readily TSEs could be transmitted by blood transfusion in order to help develop more targeted controls.

“It is vitally important that we better understand the mechanisms of disease transmission during blood transfusions so we can develop the most effective control measures and minimize human-to-human infections,” said Dr. Fiona Houston, a professor of veterinary medicine, University of Glasgow, UK, author of the study.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: August 28th, 2008 under Diseases, Mad Cow Disease.
Comments: none

An elderly female patient at Cape Cod Hospital, not far from Boston, tested positive for a rare brain disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease.

The infectious, degenerative disorder leads to rapid death, health officials said.

Only three such cases of the particular strain have been identified in the U.S., and all of those were in patients who had come from the U.K.

According to Alfred Demaria, the department of public health’s top epidemiologist, the disease is not known to be communicable and that there is no need for alarm.

“It’s a very rare disease,” Demaria said. “There’s a lot of things that threaten people every day that are much, much, more common than this.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Mad Cow disease infection devastating to the brain — for man and beast alike.

Posted: July 24th, 2008 under Diseases, Hand Hygiene, Mad Cow Disease.
Comments: none