vCJD poses greatest threat to blood bank
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD), a rare and fatal neuro-degenerative condition that may be transmissible through blood, poses the biggest challenge facing the IBTS, its chief executive Andrew Kelly told a health conference in Dublin yesterday.
While a series of measures have been taken to prevent vCJD from entering the blood supply, the problem was there was no test for the disease, Mr Kelly told a conference hosted by nine key health services organisations.
The IBTS conducted clinical trials on a filter to remove the prison from blood.
Mr Kelly pointed out that one of the four people in Ireland who died from vCJD was a first-time donor who went on to develop the disease.
Two patients were treated with different components of the donation. One patient died shortly afterwards of an unrelated underlying condition while the other recipient is believed to be in good health.
Mr Kelly also revealed that the IBTS had a huge job in restoring the confidence of the public and its staff following a series of blood contamination scandals.
At one stage, staff would not admit to working in the blood bank in Dublin because of the negative reaction they were getting. He also referred to a separate incident where stones were thrown through the window of a centre in Limerick.
He aired his disappointment that the past woes of the IBTS were again referred to earlier this year following the “unfortunate” incident when a laptop containing securely encrypted records of 171,000 donors was stolen in New York.
And, he said, while the IBTS should never forget its tarnished past, it should learn from it and move on.
“It should not always be the subject of comment when an event occurs,” he said.
Meanwhile, the deputy president of Dublin City University and Health
Service Executive board member Professor Anne Scott said members of the health service felt very threatened by peer review.
“Unless we introduce it and help to introduce it in a blame-free way we will still have major problems,” she warned.
