Risks of transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by blood transfusion
Journal Title: Folia Neuropathologica - Year 2005, Vol 43, Issue 4
Abstract
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) was first identified in 1996 in the UK, and results from human exposure to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent. vCJD has subsequently been identified in 10 additional countries, and numbers continue to increase in the UK. Unlike other human prion diseases, infectivity and the disease-associated form of the prion protein are readily detected in lymphoid tissues in vCJD. In experimental BSE infection in a sheep model, infectivity has been transmitted by blood transfusion from asymptomatic infected animals to normal recipient animals, indicating that infectivity is present in blood during the incubation period. Recently, two cases of apparent iatrogenic vCJD infection by blood transfusion from asymptomatic donors who subsequently died from vCJD have been reported from the UK. The first case resulted in clinical illness identical to other cases of vCJD, while the second case was an asymptomatic infection detected at autopsy. Sensitive means of detection of disease-associated prion protein in the blood are required in order to be employed for screening purposes, both individually at the time of blood donation, and to help ascertain future numbers of vCJD cases in the UK and beyond.
Authors and Affiliations
Alexander Peden, Diane Ritchie, James Ironside
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP96480
- DOI -
- Views 95
- Downloads 0
CCL2 (MCP-1) and CCL5 (RANTES) levels in the peripheral blood of multiple sclerosis patients treated with Glatiramer Acetate (Copaxone)
The MCP-1 and RANTES levels were measured in 20 multiple sclerosis patients before and after 1 year daily treatment with 20 mg of subcutaneously applied glatiramer acetate. The level of MCP-1 in serum from multiple scler...
Could lipid CH2/CH3 analysis by in vivo 1H MRS help in differentiation of tumor recurrence and post-radiation effects?
To inspect the potential diagnostic role of in vivo 1H MRS lipid methylene CH2 to methyl CH3 signal ratio in differentiation of recurrent brain tumor from radiation injury. Methods: Two patients – one with documented...
Involvement of immature endothelial cells in vascular alterations in Alzheimer’s disease
The aim of the present study was to investigate ultrastructural features of cerebral capillaries and the pattern of new vessel formation in a patient with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent neuropathological studies have d...
Tauopathies: recent insights into old diseases
Neurofibrillary tangles are brain lesions that have been discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, using histological silver staining. Tangles are intra-neuronal hallmarks of a degenerating process: neurofibrillar...
Variant CJD (vCJD) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE): 10 and 20 years on: part 2
Up until February 2006, variant CJD (vCJD), the human disease associated with transmission of BSE from cattle, has been confirmed in 160 patients resident in the UK and 28 elsewhere, some of whom have never visited the U...