• Government
• Blood suppliers

• Journals
• Associations-Organizations
• Related items in the news

2004

• Further vCJD precautionary measures announced (21 Sept. 2004, UK Dept. of Health)
  • Statement on vCJD in blood products (21 Sept. 2004, UK Haemophilia Society)
  • 1000s warned over vCJD (21 Sept. 2004, BBC)
  • vCJD & blood products (UK Health Protection Agency)
• UK notification exercise of transfused patients about possible vCJD begins (9 Sept. 2004, Dept. of Health)
• UK transfusion recipients to receive letter warning of vCJD (29 Aug. 2004)
• 2nd case of possible transmission of vCJD via transfusion in UK (22 July 2004, BBC)
  • UK announces new measures to reduce risk of transmitting vCJD via blood transfusion (22 July 2004, UK Dept of Health)
  • UK National CJD Surveillance Unit
• 1000s may harbour vCJD in UK 
• Prevalence of lymphoreticular prion protein accumulation in UK tissue samples (J Pathol 2004 21 May - pub. online ahead of print)
•   UK National Blood Service to implement vCJD-related ban on transfused donors on April 5, 2004
•  
  • General: “variant CJD and blood donation”
  • For donors transfused since 1980: "Keeping things safe"
• Statement of Secretary of State for Health in House of Commons (Hansard, 16 Mar. 2004)
• UK ban on transfused donors (Dept of Health announcement, 16 Mar. 2004)

------------------------------------

2003

• Transfusion incident involving vCJD (UK Dept. of Health statement, 17 Dec. 2003)
• House of Commons Statement by the Secretary of State for Health, UK (17 Dec. 2003)
• Statement of EU Commissioner Byrne on possible vCJD transmission by blood (18 Dec. 2003)

Blood suppliers 

• 2004:CBS outlines precautions to protect blood supply from vCJD (23 July 2004)

• 2003: Possible case of transfusion- transmitted vCJD in UK (CBS, 29 Dec. 2003)

2004

• Human BSE Foundation calls for countries that have received vCJD-risk plasma products from UK to be named (27 Sept, 2004)
• vCJD notification in UK & implications for Canada (22 Sept. 2004, Canadian Hemophilia Society)
•   WFH TSE Task Force bulletin on vCJD risk in U.K.-sourced plasma products (Sept. 2004)

------------------------------------

2003

• World Federation of Hemophilia statement on suspected transfusion-transmitted vCJD (19 Dec. 2003)
  • Download statement
• U.K. reports potential case of transfusion-transmitted vCJD (AABB, Dec. 19. 2003)

2004

• Protease-resistant human prionprotein and ferritin are cotransported across caco-2 epithelial cells:implications for speciesbarrier in prion uptake from the intestine (J Neurosci 2004 Dec 15; 24(50):11280-90)
• Patients informed of increased risk of vCJD contact (25 Sept. 2004, Br Med J)
• Lancet (*available only to subscribers):
  • Preclinical vCJD after blood transfusion in a PRNP codon 129 heterozygous patient (Lancet 2004 Aug7; 264: 527-9) *describes 2nd suspected transfusion-related case (for more, see TraQ's vCJD clearinghouse
  • Effectiveness of leucoreduction for removal of infectivity of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies from blood (Lancet 2004 Aug7; 264: 529-31)
  • Novel methods for disinfection of prion-contaminated medical devices (Lancet 2004 Aug7; 264: 521-6)
  • Comment: Transfusion transmission of vCJD: a crisis avoided?

• Consensus conference on vCJD screening of blood donors: report of the panel. Transfusion 2004 May;44(5):675-83 (full text - AABB members)
• Proceedings of a consensus conference: The screening of blood donors for variant CJD. Transfus Med Rev April 2004 Apr; 8(2):73-92.
• Studies in The Lancet highlight possibility of transfusion-transmitted vCJD (4 Feb. 2004)
  • Lancet Vol 363, #9407 (7 Feb. 2004) -you need to register - it's free:
  • Commentary: vCJD tissue distribution and transmission by transfusion--a worst-case scenario coming true? 
  • Llewelyn, et al. Possible transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by blood transfusion
  • Herzog, et al. Tissue distribution of bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent in primates after intravenous or oral infection
• Rapid response to Recipients of blood or blood products "at vCJD risk" (30 Jan. 2004)
• Recipients of blood or blood products "at vCJD risk" (editorial) (Br Med J, 17 Jan. 2004)

------------------------------------

2003

• Blood transfusion linked to vCJD (Nature, 22 Dec. 2003)
• Possible case of transfusion-transmitted vCJD in UK (Eurosurveilance Weekly, 18 Dec. 2003) 
• Removal of prions during purification of human therapeutic proteins (research papers in Transfusion)
•  Historical perspective (CMAJ)
• UK buys US blood firm to combat vCJD (18 Feb. 2003)
• A policy analysis of major decisions relating to CJD and the blood supply (10 July 2002)
• App. 1: Knowledge about the risk of transmission by blood transfusion of CJD in 1995 and 1999
• vCJD disease and the Quebec blood supply (22 Aug. 2000)
• The quandary of CJD (6 Oct. 1998)

2004

• Canada has 3rd BSE case (CBC, 11 Jan. 2004)
• How vCJD proteins reach the blood (BBC. 15 Dec. 2004)
• Netherlands announces new vCJD curbs on blood donation (9 Dec. 2004)
• First Irish vCJD case confirmed (BBC, 10 Nov. 2004)
  • First Irish vCJD case not a blood donor (BBC, 24 Oct. 24)
  • ISBT policies on vCJD
• Frequent blood donor identified as France's 8th known victim of vCJD (ABC, 21 Oct. 2004) 
• UK blood donor pool dramatically drops with efforts to prevent vCJD (30 Aug. 2004)
• UK transfusion recipients to receive letter warning of vCJD (29 Aug. 2004)
• Fears raised over vCJD "timebomb" (6 August 2004, New Scientist)
• UK citizen living in Florida becomes first case of probable vCJD to die in USA (23 June 2004)
  • Background: Probable vCJD in US resident (CDC, April 2002)
• UK announces ban on transfused donors over vCJD (BBC, 16 Mar. 2004)

------------------------------------

2003

• "Irrational Fears or Legitimate Concerns" - Risk Perception in Perspective (David Byrne,  European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, at a conference in Brussels, 4 Dec. 2003)
• Australia reviews bovine-based vaccines and deferral of US blood donors (The Australian, 27 Dec. 2003)
• Stepping up to the plate in prion surveillance (CAP Today, December 2003)
• EU seeks report on transfusion-related vCJD (Daily Times, Pakistan, 29 Dec. 2003)
• Possible case of transfusion-associated vCJD in UK (BBC, 17 Dec. 2003)