vCJD poses greatest threat to blood bank

NO guarantee can be given that measures in place will prevent the human form of mad cow disease from entering the Irish blood supply, the head of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has admitted.

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.