Medicinal and other products and human and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: memorandum from a WHO meeting.

The report in March 1996 of 10 human cases of a novel from of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom, and its possible link to the agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), raises many questions about the safety of animal-derived products and by-products entering the food chain or being used in medicine. This Memorandum updates the preventive measures put forward in 1991 to minimize the risks associated with the use of bovine-derived materials in medicinal products and medical devices.