- Thousands of patients were today sent letters warning
them that they may have been exposed to the degenerative brain condition
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease through transfusions of blood plasma products
such as clotting agents.
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- The official notification exercise was announced by the
health secretary, John Reid, earlier this month. The chief medical officer,
Sir Liam Donaldson, stressed that the notification was "highly
precautionary"
and said the excercise was aimed at reducing the risk of onward
transmission
of variant CJD through surgery.
-
- Sir Liam said: "Throughout our handling of the issue
of vCJD we have adopted a highly precautionary approach, taking a series
of steps as new evidence became available to maximise the protection of
the public.
-
- "This risk assessment continues this approach and
identifies three groups of patients who need to know that they may be at
a small increased risk of developing vCJD than the rest of the population
who ate beef during the 1980s and 1990s."
-
- The information would enable these people and their
doctors
to take the necessary steps to minimise the risk of onward transmission
of vCJD, he added.
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- Selected patients have been told that because they
received
certain batches of plasma products in the past they could be at a small
increased risk of carrying the vCJD agent.
-
- About 200 batches of plasma products were derived from
23 blood donations given by nine people, who has later gone on to develop
vCJD.
-
- The patients who may be affected include people with
haemophilia and other bleeding disorders. About 6,000 patients with these
conditions have been notified of the vCJD risk, although the number who
may have been directly affected is likely to be lower at around
4,000.
-
- A small number of people with primary immunodeficiency
and others who have been treated with large quantities of particular plasma
products have also been included in the notification excercise.
-
- The Department of Health (DoH) said the "additional
risk to these people is likely to be very small" but it was necessary
to take precautionary measures against passing the infection on. These
included ensuring that affected patients did not donate blood, tissue or
organs and that they told their doctors and dentists if they underwent
treatment in future.
-
- The letters were sent after a risk evaluation exercise
recommended by the expert CJD incident panel. It follows two cases since
December last year where vCJD is thought to have been passed on by blood
transfusion.
-
- Blood donated by a small number of people who went on
to develop vCJD has now been traced. Patients who received direct,
one-to-one
transfusion of "whole blood" from these donors were contacted
earlier this year and told about the additional risk they faced.
-
- Now plasma from the same donors used to make products
such as clotting agents has also been traced. The DoH said plasma products
were manufactured from pools of thousands of donations, which greatly
reduced
the risk of passing on vCJD.
-
- Mr Reid said: "Two principles have guided my
department's
handling of the issue of vCJD and its possible transmission through blood
- maximum caution and maximum openness. That is why, since the first report
of suspected transmission via whole blood transfusion last December, we
have taken further steps to maximise the safety of the UK's blood
supply.
-
- "We have also been open with the public, parliament
and health professionals about each step we have taken and the expert
advice
behind it. We are continuing this approach today by announcing the results
of this risk assessment exercise."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/bse/article/0,2763,1309437,00.html
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