Canadian Blood Services outlines precautions to protect blood supply from Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

July 23, 2004 – Canadian Blood Services commented today on the news of a second possible transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (variant CJD) via a blood transfusion reported yesterday in the United Kingdom (U.K.).

“We consider that it is now likely that variant CJD is transmissible through blood,” said Dr. Graham Sher, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Blood Services. “I want to reassure Canadians that Canadian Blood Services already has measures in place to protect the blood system from variant CJD because we treated it as if it was a threat well before there was scientific proof. This new case proves that the precautionary steps we took in 1999 based on the theoretical risk of variant CJD being transmissible through blood were right. At that time, we had no scientific proof that it was possible to transmit it through blood, but it seemed reasonable to assume that it might be, so we took action by no longer accepting donations from people who had spent significant time in the parts of the world where human cases had originated.”

Originally implemented in September 1999, the Canadian Blood Services variant CJD deferral policy has been updated two additional times: in September 2000 and again in August 2001, making the policy stricter each time. In 1999, it applied only to people who had spent up to six months in the U.K. In 2000, the policy was extended to people who had spent up to six months in France. In 2001 it was extended to its current form.

Current policy
People are not eligible to donate blood or plasma if they have spent a cumulative total of three months or more in the U.K. since 1980, or if they have spent a cumulative total of three months or more in France since 1980, or if they have spent a cumulative total of five years or more in Western Europe outside the U.K. or France since 1980. Western Europe includes Belgium, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark. The U.K. includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. In addition, people are no longer eligible to give blood or plasma if they have had a blood transfusion or received medical treatment with a product made from blood in the U.K. since 1980.

“Our responsibility as the operator of the blood system is to protect the blood supply for patients receiving blood and blood products. Because there is no test, we are doing this by not accepting blood donations from people who are considered to pose a risk,” said Dr. Sher. Canadians who have not spent time in Europe are not considered to pose a risk to the blood supply. To infect the blood system, the disease must be in the people who donate blood – not just in cows. While bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) has recently been discovered in Canadian cattle, the situation in Canada is significantly different from Europe where extremely high numbers of cattle have been affected. There have been over 180,000 BSE cases identified in the U.K., France and Western Europe, whereas there have been two cases that originated in Canadian cattle. There has never been a case of variant CJD in a human in Canada that originated here. There has been one human case in Canada, but it originated in the U.K. Likewise, there has been one human case in Ireland and one in the U.S., but they originated in the U.K. as well (the Canadian, Irish and U.S. cases were reported in people who resided in the U.K. during a key exposure period of the U.K. population to BSE).

“Beyond restricting the people from whom we will accept blood donations, we continually review our policy to determine if more can be done to protect the blood system, without significantly reducing the amount of blood we collect – because that would cause a greater risk to public health than variant CJD. Specifically, we will continue to look out for new technologies that either remove variant CJD from blood or that test for the presence of it in blood,” said Dr. Sher.

Scientists in Europe, the U.S. and Canada are actively working to learn more about variant CJD and to develop tools that will assist blood system operators in protecting the blood supply. As part of these ongoing efforts, Canadian Blood Services co-hosted an international conference with Héma-Québec in March 2003 of over 150 scientific experts to review the most up-to-date scientific developments on variant CJD. For a link to the Consensus Conference Proceedings, please visit our Web site at www.bloodservices.ca.

Canadian Blood Services is a national, not-for-profit charitable organization that manages the blood supply in all provinces and territories outside of Quebec and oversees the country's Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Canadian Blood Services operates 42 permanent collection sites and more than 15,000 donor clinics annually. The Provincial and Territorial Ministers of Health provide operational funding to Canadian Blood Services. The federal government, through Health Canada, is responsible for regulating the blood system. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.bloodservices.ca.

- 30 -

For media contacts click here.