Mad Cow Disease Found in 8th Blood Donor (France)

[villager]

Mad Cow Disease Found in 8th Blood Donor


PARIS - A donor whose blood was used to transfuse 10 people and to manufacture medicines has been identified as France's eighth known victim of the human equivalent of mad cow disease, health officials announced Thursday.


Authorities are working to identify the 10 blood recipients. Once identified, their doctors will inform them they may have been exposed to the disease, said Jean-Francois Riffaud of France's national blood service.

Officials would not give the gender or other details about the person infected with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but said he or she is still alive.

The person, the eighth identified since 1996 to be suffering from CJD in France, "was a blood donor several times between 1993 and 2003," said a statement from France's Directorate General of Health.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041021/ap_on_re_eu/france_mad_cow_3

[tlcandie]

1. Nice!!!

Identified since 1996 suffering from CJD and yet donated blood in 2003? This person was not flagged or something?!

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. He must have been out of his mind to do it!

[Tansy_Gold]

6. No, no, no.

The original post says he/she was the eighth identified since 1996. IOW, since 1996, eight people have been identified with CJD. This one could have been identified a week ago, but gave blood between 1993 and 2003.

[Wilber_Stool]

8. Coke!.....n/t

[tlcandie]

11. Arghhh how embarassing!!!

My bad .. thanks Tansy!!! I reread it and I thought I truly read what it said! :+

Thanks for the correction..

:hug:

[Wilber_Stool]

7. He was the eighth "since" 1996.

It doesn't say when he was discovered.

[happynewyear]

2. used to make medicines - hopefully NOT the flu vaccines! yikesssssssssss!

<< Blood from the donor was also used in the manufacture of 88 batches of medicines, enough for several thousand people, officials said. Authorities identified 16 batches that remained in circulation and have recalled them. The rest were either used or were destroyed, officials said. >>

Oh, isn't this just GREAT!!!!!!! :argh: !!!!!

[CAcyclist]

9. Funny you should say that

Check my previous posts.

The contamination issue in 1999
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/wlcfm/company_archive.cfm?FL=M 10/21/99 Medeva

could have included BSE.

The same lab made polio vaccine that was recalled by Britain because it was grown in medium from fetal calf serum from UK origin cows.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,386177,00.html

On Friday, the Department of Health was forced to recall Medeva's oral polio vaccine after it was discovered that the firm had potentially been using BSE-infected material.<snip>


The flu vaccine starter could have been grown in the same serum - its not clear - the bulk manufacture is grown in chicken eggs, but the seed stock can be be exposed to a varitey of other factors. That's not the official reason the US issued a warning letter but it followed hard on the heels of Britain's action.

[happynewyear]

12. holy cripes!

I knew I smelled a RAT!

:scared:

:kick:

[demnan]

3. You know I hate to say this

but if they are this lackadaisical about mad cow, should people still be eating French cheese?

Would the USA get a pass in this situation?

[belle]

4. I don't think there's evidence of it being transmitted through dairy

[EST]

10. You are correct, however, the thinking now

is that it's not necessarily true that the defective prions are transmitted by consumtion of nerve tissue only, as was previously believed. The last I heard, they were talking about avoiding suspect meat entirely.

My wife's father died from CJD in 1993, and we have yet to establish any connection with any suspicious sources. Perhaps he was unfortunate enough to be that one-in-a-million who develop the disease "spontaneously."