asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How many NHS patients identified by the National Blood Service as having received blood from a donor who later developed vCJD were people with haemophilia. [HL750]

No patient with haemophilia or other bleeding disorders have been identified as having received blood from a blood donor who subsequently developed vCJD, nor have there been any reported cases of vCJD associated with receipt of plasma products.

However, all haemophilia patients who received plasma products between 1980 and 2001 sourced from UK donor plasma have been designated as “at risk of vCJD for public purposes”. All plasma products are now sourced from non-UK plasma. The United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctors’ Organisation is collecting data that will provide an estimate of the number of haemophilia patients who have been exposed to plasma products which may be implicated with vCJD.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What is their response to the findings of Professor John Collinge in the December 2006 edition of the Lancet on the transmission by infected blood of variant CJD; and what action they are planning to take. [HL751]

The Lancet article refers to the third known case of vCJD transmission via blood transfusion from a vCJD-infected donor. This case was originally notified to the department in January 2006 and announced by the Health Protection Agency in a press release on 9 February 2006, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.

There are 24 living patients in a group of people who had received blood components from donors subsequently known to have developed vCJD. They were all notified in 2005 or earlier, through their GPs, of their risk status and have been provided with information and support. The Health Protection Agency contacted the GPs earlier in the year to notify them of this third case and the agency has ensured that the GPs are fully informed and briefed about the subsequent Lancet publication.

The department has implemented a series of measures to reduce the risk of vCJD being transmitted through the blood supply. Shortly after vCJD was first identified in 1996, the possibility of human-to-human transmission through blood was considered, and the department implemented precautionary measures to reduce what was, at that time, a theoretical risk. These measures have been strengthened since evidence of transmission via blood began to emerge from animal studies, and following the first case of transfusion-associated transmission in humans, reported in December 2003. An important additional step, introduced in March 2004, was to exclude from blood donation those people who had themselves received a blood transfusion since January 1980. Other precautionary measures include:

from December 1997, blood components, plasma products or tissues obtained from any individual who later develops vCJD, were withdrawn/recalled;

in July 1998, it was announced that plasma for the manufacture of blood products, such as clotting factors, would be obtained from non-UK sources;

from November 1999, white blood cells, which may carry a significant risk of transmitting vCJD, were removed from all blood used for transfusion;

in August 2002, it was announced that fresh frozen plasma for treating babies and young children born on or after 1 January 1996 would be obtained from the USA;

in July 2004, the exclusion criteria for blood donation were extended to include previously transfused platelet donors, and donors who were unsure if they had previously had a blood transfusion;

in September 2004, the department announced further precautionary measures for patients who had received certain batches of plasma products;

in July 2005, the use of USA-sourced fresh frozen plasma was extended to all children up to the age of 16;

in July 2005, the department announced further precautionary measures for those patients who donated blood to three people who later developed vCJD.

The department continues to keep all the evidence in relation to transmission of vCJD by blood under close review.