BEEF CRISIS: Blood donor guidelines to be tightened

Experts are considering the possibility that the new strain of Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease (CJD) could be further spread by human organ transplants and even blood transfusion, following the discovery of 10 human cases believed to be due to mad cow disease.

New guidelines on human organ transplantation and donor selection are to be issued, to guard against the possibility that people incubating the infection as a result of eating contaminated meat may unwittingly pass it on through blood or tissue donation. Scientists and doctors acknowledge the far-reaching implications for the UK blood and organ donor programme, if it is confirmed that eating beef from cows infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), results in CJD.

The possibility of large quantities of donor tissue contaminated with CJD would magnify the public health crisis they are now struggling to contain.

The Department of Health last night confirmed that the new, "tougher" guidelines for doctors and hospitals would further reduce the chances of anyone with suspected CJD from giving blood or becoming an organ donor. The Spongiform Encephalopthy Advisory Committee (SEAC), which met over the weekend to discuss the crisis, is considering if further action is necessary, the spokeswoman added.

However, until a test is developed to identify the new CJD agent, no absolute guarantee of safety can be given to recipients of donated organs, and possibly blood.

A doctor who asked not to be named said yesterday: "It is a potential problem. There is no test to say whether a donor has been exposed to CJD or is a carrier of whatever causes it. It's only if they have symptoms that they can be ruled out as an organ or blood donor. . . a bit like Aids before they found HIV and developed a test for the virus. Blood or organs couldn't be screened until then."

CJD can be transmitted through transplantation of infected tissue, products of infected tissue such a human growth hormone derived from pituitary glands, or contaminated surgical instruments. There are several documented cases from around the world.

Although there is no recorded case of CJD transmission by blood in man, transmission via human blood to mice and other animals has been reported. French scientists, writing in The Lancet last month, reported the death from CJD of a woman who had received blood products from a donor who subsequently died from CJD.

People with suspected CJD have been banned from giving blood or donating organs after death since the early 1980s. In 1989, the ban was extended to people who had received human growth hormone derived from pituitary glands removed from cadavers. A number of these have since developed CJD. In 1993, another group who had received pituitary-derived product were also banned.

Tam Fry, honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation said: "It would seem logical that if any child who night have been harbouring CJD as a result of the link with the contaminated human growth hormone should never act as an organ donor, any person who might be suspect of CJD as a result of eating beef should be in the same category."

A spokeswoman for the National Blood Authority said that the best evidence suggested there was no risk of transmission of CJD in human blood. "Clearly we are keeping it all under review in the light of new developments," she added.

Ross Taylor, a spokesman for the British Transplant Society said implcations for transplant surgery were "an interesting question but hugely speculative until we know more."