Prions and transfusion medicine.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

There is growing concern at national and international levels that blood supplies might be contaminated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) agents (prions).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This review on CJD and blood focuses on experimental and epidemiological data, available tests, factors contributed by donors and recipients, and production processes. All of this has been recently detailed in excellent reports and opinions which are summarised here.

RESULTS

Solid evidence from experimentally infected animals, and fragmentary evidence from naturally infected humans, indicates that blood may contain low levels of the infectious agent, yet blood products have never been identified as a cause of CJD in humans.

CONCLUSION

The evaluation of all relevant data leads to the opinion that transmission of CJD by blood and blood products either does not occur or does not contribute to the CJD epidemiology. Although a hazard cannot be excluded, a real risk is not recognisable. As the experience with variant CJD (vCJD) is limited, the same statement cannot be made for vCJD [1]. In consequence, it is mainly the risk of vCJD that might have relevance for transfusion medicine; this has already resulted in some precautionary donor exclusion regulations.