Britain Testing to See If CJD May Be Transmitted to Transplant Patients

The British government is planning tests to establish whether Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the deadly human form of mad-cow disease, might be accidentally transferred from organ and tissue donors to patients undergoing transplant surgery.

Blood, nervous tissues, tonsils and appendices from known victims of CJD are already tested for infectivity, but the research is now being extended to cover organs and tissues used in transplantation.

The British Department of Health said the researchers are seeking to assess the unquantified risk of Britain's organ and tissue transplant programs worsening the country's CJD outbreak, in which 133 Britons have died.

Advisers to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested last year that the risk of transmitting CJD through tissues was significantly higher than through blood transfusions.

Other Sources: The Guardian