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'Mad cow' worries prompt donor restrictions
Posted
6-14-99 Gaithersburg, Md. Anyone who has spent a total of more than six months in Britain during much of the past two decades will be prohibited from donating blood under regulations approved last week by the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS). The new restrictions are intended to prevent the spread of a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease known as mad cow disease. Mad cow disease is a fatal illness that kills cattle by destroying brain tissue. In the mid-1990s it was discovered that a new strain of the disease, called new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, could strike humans who ate beef from infected cattle. The infection can remain hidden for years, however, and to date there have been only 40 confirmed cases-39 in Britain and one in France. It's unknown whether the disease can be transmitted through blood, but as a safety precaution Americans who have spent six months or more in Britain between 1980 and 1996 will now be prohibited from donating blood. In unanimously approving the restrictions, the HHS Blood Safety Committee acted less than a week after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted 12-9 in favor of the precautions. It's now up to the FDA to develop a policy for implementing these new guidelines. Blood experts expressed concern that the new rules would exacerbate already tight supplies of blood. "We feel the restrictions are premature," said Richard Davey, MD, chief medical officer for the American Red Cross. "The risk the disease is transmittable by blood is still theoretical, and we should wait until we have more information before taking such steps." The new policy will cut the U.S. supply of donated blood by 2.2 percent, according to Davey.
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