vCJD concerns prompt warning on transfusions

Published on Sunday 8 December 2002 00:00

BLOOD transfusion patients should ask whether the procedure is "absolutely necessary" because of the unknown risk of contracting vCJD, Scotland’s transfusion chief has warned.

Professor Ian Franklin said although there was no current evidence that blood products can transmit the infectious agent which causes the human equivalent of BSE, it remained a possibility.

He said that meant attitudes to transfusions which could be avoided needed to change.

Franklin, medical director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, was speaking following a row over haemophiliacs who were not told for two years that they might have been exposed to blood products from a donor who later developed vCJD.

He said: "I don’t want to mistakenly give the impression of being completely reassuring here. We prefer to use the term unknown or uncertain risk [of transmission through blood]. There may well be a risk.

"That shouldn’t make people worried about a transfusion if it’s going to save their life or maintain their quality of life, but they should consult with their doctors whether a transfusion is absolutely necessary. We would support that."

He said examples where it might be better to avoid a transfusion, as a precaution, included patients who were slightly anaemic following hospital treatment.

He added: "If you look at the history of blood transfusion it will tell you it’s not a zero-risk product."

Professor James Ironside, of the vCJD surveillance unit in Edinburgh, said Franklin’s advice was "reasonable".