Blood

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease's impact on Quebec's blood supply?

In 1996 a new variant of spongiform encephalopathy, variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease ("mad cow disease"), was identified in the United Kingdom. Although the risk of transmission through blood transfusion is unknown, the exclusion of potentially infected donors has been recommended. In a model adopted by Héma-Québec, the risk of infection was assumed to be proportional to the duration of potential exposure — in this case time spent in the UK — and the threshold of exposure was determined to be the maximum loss of donors (3%–5%) that the blood supply would tolerate. Researchers point out that vCJD marks a departure for those responsible for protecting Canada's blood supply. "Until recently it was generally possible to predict and quantify the benefit that would result from the addition of a new measure to improve the safety of blood products. In contrast, there are no relevant scientific data to help us predict the gain in safety, if any, that will result from the exclusion of blood donors who have travelled to the UK." CMAJ 2000;163(4):412-3.

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