New Mad Cow Test on the Horizon?

pin_gween writes "Prions are thought to be responsible for mad cow disease and its human variant, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease. Until now, the only way to positively ID those infected was to dissect the brain. Canada.com has an AP wire reporting that researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have 'developed a method of multiplying the number prions in a blood sample so a blood test then can detect them.' If perfected, it would make the blood supply safer; transfusions can spread the disease between people. It could also open up more blood donations for the Red Cross: in the U.S., people who have spent more than 3 months total (since 1980) in the UK or 6 months total (since 1980) in Europe are banned from donating."

Comments

Blood test since 2003

[polysylabic psudonym]

According to New Scientist magazine there's been a blood test for BSE (Bovive Spongiform Encephalopathy(Mad Cow Disease)) since 2003. The more tests out there the better, of course. Better tests mean quicker testing, means more US cattle tested, means fewer cases hiding, means fewer cases of vCJD in american humans.

Re:Donation

[packeteer]

I don't want to scare you since you are probably fine but you very well could have prions in you. Temember there is no way to test and just becuase you have no symptoms doesn;t mean you dont have it. You can be exposed to the prions that cause VCJD and not get sick for 30-40 years.

I know someone who is not allowed to donate blood in the USA. He has never been to europe. His grandfather died of CJD and contracted it in the United States. Becuase there is a possability he carried it when he has children and his grandchildren COULD have it. There is no way to test them. The only way they will know is when they get older they could get sick.

There is also another test...

[CrackedButter]

It involves taking a swab sample from the tonsils, its been news to me for at least 4 or 5 years. At the time the only other test was to take a cross section of the brain test that, of course, you're only capable of doing that from somebody who had already died of the disease.

Re:Donation

[Hannah E. Davis]

There's a similar law in Canada. From the Canadian Blood Services websites:

Possible Exposure to CJD or vCJD: People are not eligible to donate blood or plasma if they have spent a cumulative total of three months or more in the United Kingdom (U.K.) between January 1980, and December 31, 1996, or if they have spent a cumulative total of three months or more in France between January 1980, and December 31, 1996, or if they have spent a cumulative total of five years or more in Western Europe outside the U.K. or France since 1980. In addition, people will no longer be eligible to donate blood or plasma if they have had a blood transfusion in the U.K., France or Western Europe since 1980. This is owing to the risk of transmission of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) through blood.

I'm a first generation Canadian of British descent, so when I was younger, my parents took me to Britain many times to visit relatives -- I suspect that I've been there for at least 3 months in total, so I guess I'm banned from donating blood too.

Re:Banned

[Spad]

The chance of somebody contracting CJD from a blood transfusion donated by someone who'd visited the UK for 6 months is essentially negligible, but it only takes one case for the media to turn it into a circus and blame the government for not protecting people.

Re:Mad Cow and CFD is a hype - it is safe.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1202: 307098::NO::F2400_P1202_CHECK_DISPLAY,F2400_P1202_ PUB_MAIL_ID:X,18726

Risk factors for the development of vCJD include age, residence in the UK
and methionine homozygosity at codon 129 of the prion protein gene; 98
cases of vCJD with available genetic analysis have all been methionine
homozygotes. The analyses in this report do not provide conclusive evidence
of an increased risk of vCJD associated with past surgery, previous blood
transfusion, occupation, or a range of dietary factors. However, the power
of the case-control study, from which these results are derived, is limited
by the relatively small number of cases and controls.

Donation Bans: Poster is Wrong

[Kevin Nichols]

The poster is wrong in stating that anyone who has lived 6 months or more in Europe cannot give blood. It's not actually that strict. The full details are here: RC Donor Eligibility.

Re:Donation Bans: Poster is Wrong

[oneiros27]

It used to be. They've relaxed it recently. (I know, because I was trying to figure out why there was the ban, as I'm in the group banned, and freaked me out even more when the relaxed the rules, but I was still in the banned group.)

Here's the notice they've been sending out whenever we have a blood drive at work:

Effective March 1, 2005, the American Red Cross has significantly changed the restrictions for deferral of donors who have traveled to various parts of the world. Previously, the restrictions were 3 months total from 1980 to 1996 in the UK and 6 months total for the UK and Europe.

Now, the criteria is as follows for deferral:

Since January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1996-

• Spent a total time that adds up to 3 months or more in any country in the United Kingdom.
• Were a member of the U.S. military, a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the US Military that spent a total of 6 months on or associated with a military base in any of the following areas during the specified time frames-
  • From 1980 through 1990-Belgium, the Netherlands (Holland), or Germany
  • From 1980 thorough 1996-Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy or Greece

Since January 1, 1980 to present-

Spent a total time that adds up to 5 years or more in Europe (includes time spent n the UK from 1980 through 1996 and time associated with the military bases in Europe as outlined above)

The rest of the deferral requirements remain the same.

From the research I did, there were suggestions that military folks were likely to visit the UK -- I couldn't find anything that suggested that have reason to believe that there was tainted meat on the bases.

Re:Donation

[Tim C]

"Probably"? Every time I see that, I read it as "I don't actually know, but my prejudice is that...".

So, here are some actual numbers, courtesy of the World Health Organisation. As it turns out, you underestimated it, at least for the period in the report.

Still, it's worth pointing out that the UK population is in the region of 60million or so, so the number of cases is tiny.

Re:Mad Cow and CFD is a hype - it is safe.

[Grym]

"The facts are..."

"+1 interesting" as it may be, from that point on the parent was utterly wrong.

Some definitions: TSE is the general name of the TYPE of disease. Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis (BSE), or "Mad Cow's Disease", is the specific name of the disease as it appears in bovine, or cows. Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD) disease is the specific name of the disease at it appears in people.

Some common points of confusion:

• There are multiple forms of CJD, dependent upon how it is contracted
• cCJD, or Classical CJD is a genetic form
• In cCJD, YOUR BODY produces the malfolded protein (prion) which causes the disease. This is rare and ONLY manifests itself in the elderly (>55). It is a rare genetic defect (about 1:1 million) that causes this.
• nCJD (or sometimes nvCJD) is the acquired form of the disease. It can be acquired from contact with any infected bodily fluid and, of course, meat. It can affect anyone of any age.
• A person can get nCJD by contact with a cow with BSE OR a person with cCJD. This is why they aren't allowing blood transfusions of possibly infected people.
• All people are susceptible to the disease. It's simply a matter of contracting the disease. This is difficult to do if you: 1. Don't practice cannibalism (prevent contact to CJD) 2. Slaughter cows without coming into contact with the brain or spine (prevent contact to BSE) and 3. Prevent contact with an infected patient's spinal fluid (this really only applies to healthcare professionals, but it's fundamentally no different from #1)

-Grym

Re:Mad Cow and CFD is a hype - it is safe.

[insert cool name]

Given the odds, you can expect perhaps 10-20 cases of CFD in Europe in the next 50 years, unless the victims dies in a car accident beforehand, which is much more likely.

I hope this is true, but the figures from the CJD observation unit don't back it up. http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/figures.htm

Since 1990 the number of deaths from definite or probable vCJD is 150.

This is for the UK only (not the whole of Europe), is a figure for deaths rather than just cases and for a period of much less than 50 years. The figure does include deaths that are not confirmed to be new variant CJD, but I assume this means they may be from a different CJD varient rather than something else totally unrelated. The number of definitely confirmed deaths is 107.

Re:Banned

[Mccavity91k]

Speaking as both a previous blood donor center technician and as a medical laboratory tech, which includes transfusion services (not to mention the fact that I'm an American currently living in Europe, and can't donate either), the person that made this article is using older limitations. The current limitations (for vCJD) are: lived in Europe for > 6 months between 1980 and 1995, or lived in Europe for greater than 5 years from 1980 until the current year (these are the limitations for the Armed Services Blood Bank, and it may be different from other blood bank associations).

The reason these limitations exist is because of how little is known about vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). The bit about prions is still debated, although it is the widely accepted theory.

There is no case of vCJD that has been caught from a blood transfusion, although there have been cases from cornea or dura mater transplants or the administration of human-derived pituitary growth hormones (this from WHO).

There is also some question about the possibility of transmission from people who have had beef insulin (from before we could grow human insulin in sterile conditions). Any of these items automatically mean an indefinite deferral until there is a test available for vCJD that can be performed easily (i.e. not in a big research lab by post-doctorates), like the EIA or PCR tests that exist for HIV, Hepatitis C virus, or Cytomegalovirus.

The blood donation community as a whole got really burnt, first when HIV came out, then when Hepatitis C virus was discovered (a close family member of mine caught HCV from a blood transfusion years ago). So, the FDA, which governs blood donations, (blood, since it is transfused, is considered to be a drug by the FDA, and is held to all the same standards as any pharmaceutical company) is incredibly jumpy about any disease which exists or can exist in the blood getting transfused, and contributing to an epidemic amongst people that are already unhealthy (you don't get blood transfused unless something's wrong, right?).

You should have seen how quickly they clamped down on SARS. We had to start asking all potential donors if they had SARS or SARS-like symptoms, and if in the last 14 days, they had travelled to any SARS endemic countries, and we still do.

Europeans are donating blood, just not in America. Those countries make their own laws, and, since it's considered endemic, as well as very rare, they ask certain questions to find risky history, but do not defer for vCJD based on location to the best of my knowledge. The FDA has chosen to do so to prevent the spread from Europe to America.

As far as the risks, vCJD is a fatal disease with no cure, no matter how you slice it, just like HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C. To ask the question like that is to ask if it's worth the risk to have Chronic Hepatitis C in 10 years in exchange for a blood transfusion when you need it. Some people that have caught it from a transfusion say it was worth having their life saved, and some say they would rather have bled to death. Personally, I'd rather err on the side of caution, and use what blood we have, instead of making that decision for another person.

Re:I hope they don't expect a lot more donors

[Mccavity91k]

We do not reject people that have taken Tylenol, unless they're donating platelets (Tylenol, like asprin, is a blood thinner). As far as the drugs go, it is on a case by case basis because some drugs change your blood in many ways. As far as the Benadryl goes, the place I worked at would not have deferred you for that, as long as the allergies were chronic, and not possible a cold or flu.

Remember, this blood will go to sick or injured people that aren't in the right shape to have to worry about what drugs or viruses are in their bloodstreams, and how they'll react with what they're already on.

Re:I hope they don't expect a lot more donors

[Mccavity91k]

There actually is a choice for that. If somebody doesn't want to admit something, or if, say they came in a group and don't want to have to explain why they couldn't donate, we have barcode stickers that we make them choose from. One states they believe their blood is safe for transfusion, one states that for some reason, they don't believe so. We don't even know which ones they choose until we bring the blood back to the lab and scan them. If they say no transfusion, we destroy them, and nobody's the wiser.