CJD group hails new test

A British support group for victims of CJD today welcomed the news that a blood test for the proteins that cause BSE has been developed, raising hopes that people could be screened for the human form of the condition.

“I thinks it’s very positive. Lots of people have been trying to develop a blood test to help us diagnose variant CJD,” Dr Angus Kennedy, chairman of the CJD Support Network, said.

But, he added: “This is quite a small scale experiment in animals. A lot of work needs to be done to reproduce it to see whether it actually works in human beings and whether it can help us to diagnose this condition and if its as good as diagnosing as the current techniques that we’ve got.”

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Dr Kennedy said if it was possible to detect the human form of the disease sooner it “might help” when treatment becomes available.

He also said the tests could play an “important role” in screening blood for transfusions.

There have been 180 deaths caused by variant CJD but Dr Kennedy said it will be 30 or 40 years “until we know the true extent of this epidemic”.

He added: “People at the moment are being told that they’ve been exposed to a blood transfusion infected with CJD and we don’t know what that actually means.

“Some of those individuals may lead a normal life, some may develop the disease, it’s a very worrying time for these individuals who didn’t know what CJD was until somebody tells them suddenly that they’ve been exposed to it.”