Variant CJD and blood donors and recipients

Notification of recipients of blood components from vCJD cases

Patients who have received blood transfusions from donors who later develop variant CJD may have been exposed to infectivity and a risk of variant CJD infection. The CJD Incidents Panel recommends that these people follow public health precautions.

Notification of individuals who have donated blood to vCJD cases

As variant CJD may be transmitted by blood transfusions, it is possible that transfusion recipients who have developed variant CJD could have been infected through their blood transfusion. This could happen if the blood donors to these recipients were infected with variant CJD when they donated blood.

The CJD Incidents Panel (the Panel) considered a risk assessment prepared by the Department of Health Standards and Quality Analytical Team that looked at the chances of such donors being infected. The Panel recommends that such donors should be considered to be at risk of vCJD for public health purposes and follow public health precautions.

Notification of recipients of blood from donors to vCJD cases

Some blood donors who have donated blood to people who have developed the disease, have also donated blood to other patients. In September 2005 the Panel considered the implications of this. The Panel recommended that each recipient of blood from a donor to a variant CJD case, where the donor's implied risk was well above 1%, should be contacted and informed that they have an increased risk of variant CJD.

The CJD Incidents Panel recommends that these people follow public health precautions.

Last reviewed: 10 July 2009