Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) remains a ‘very real and continuing threat’ to public health and recent developments strongly support predictions of second and third waves of long incubation vCJD, an international expert has warned.
Dr Robert Rohwer, Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, told a patient safety conference in London earlier this month (February 4) that vCJD-contaminated blood posed the greatest risk for human-to-human transmission of the disease.
“Moreover, since the transmission is between humans rather than bovine to human and the exposure is by transfusion or injection rather than orally, it is expected to be at least 1,000 times more efficient than transmissions from BSE-infected food,” he stated.
Dr Rohwer stressed that this was not a theoretical risk. “To date there have been five recognised cases of transfusion transmission of vCJD and one highly probable transmission from a plasma product.
“It is not known how many donors are incubating vCJD, but accumulating evidence of long incubation times in genotypes that make up approximately two thirds of the population intimates that it may be far greater than indicated by the cases detected to date.”’
The incidence of vCJD in Ireland is second to that of the UK, and ahead of France — the countries hardest hit by the disease.
In December, research by Prof John Collinge of the National Prion Clinic, published in The Lancet (Vol.374. Issue 9707, p2128), described the first patient to succumb to vCJD from a previously unaffected genetic subgroup of the prion protein. This finding strengthens an earlier prediction of second and third waves of vCJD in people who were infected over the same period as those in the first wave, but whose genetics result in a longer incubation time. Two thirds of the population is in this group, and many may be spreading the infection through blood and tissue donations.
Stressing the ‘significant challenges’ of detecting the prion in blood, Dr Rohwer urged implementation of proven infectivity removal technologies – such as prion filtration — to protect the blood supply.
The Department of Health in Ireland has not followed the independent expert advice of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs in the UK, which has advised the Department’s counterpart in Britain to start filtering blood for children.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has, however, asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to carry out an assessment of the new technology.
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The most shocking thing is Prion Filtration of blood has been a possibility since 2006. And despite the recommendation that the filter be used when transfusing children in the UK, the filters will not be in use until 2012/3
http://express-press-release.net/30/MACOPHARMA%60S%20P-CAPT%20PRION%20CAPTURE%20FILTER%20CE%20MARKED.php
The filtration of blood to remove vCJD should be done for all blood that is given, not just for children. If not there is the significnt risk of a repeat of the blood contamination disaster that resulted in thousands haemophiliacs in Ireland and UK being infected with HIV and Hepatitis C. This time it wouldn’t be limited to haemophiliacs , it could potentially affect everyone, and governments should be taking EVERY possible step to secure the safety of blood.
The US EPA and waste industry are promoting the landspreading of Class B sewage sludge containing infectious human and animal prions on grazing lands, hay fields, and dairy pastures. This puts livestock and wildlife at risk of infection. They ingest large quantities of dirt and top dressed sludge with their fodder.
Prion infected Class A sludge “biosolids” compost is spread in parks, playgrounds, home lawns, flower and vegetable gardens – putting humans, family pets, and children with their undeveloped immune systems and hand-to-mouth “eat dirt” behavior at risk. University of Wisconsin prion researchers, working with $100,000 EPA grant and a $5 million Dept. of Defense grant, have found that prions become 680 times more infectious in certain types of soil. Prions can survive for over 3 years in soils. And human prions are 100,000 times more difficult to inactivate than animal prions
Recently, researchers at UC Santa Cruz, and elsewhere, announced that Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a prion disease. “Prion” = proteinaceous infectious particle which causes always fatal TSEs (Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) in humans and animals including BSE (Mad Cow Disease), scrapie in sheep and goats, and Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, elk and moose. Human prion diseases are AD and CJD (Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease,) and other rarer maladies. Infectious prions have been found in human and animal muscle tissue including heart, saliva, blood, urine, feces and many other organs.
Alzheimer’s rates are soaring as Babyboomers age – there are now over 5.3 million AD victims in US shedding infectious prions in their blood, urine and feces, into public sewers. This Alzheimer’s epidemic has almost 500,000 new victims each year. No sewage treatment process inactivates prions – they are practically indestructible. The wastewater treatment process reconcentrates the infectious prions in the sewage sludge.
Quotes from Dr. Joel Pedersen, Univ. of Wisconsin, on his prion research:
”
Our results suggest that if prions were to enter municipal waste water treatment systems, most of the agent would partition to activated sludge solids, survive mesophilic anaerobic digestion, and be present in
treated biosolids. Land application of biosolids containing prions could represent a route for their unintentional introduction into the environment. Our results argue for excluding inputs of prions to municipal wastewater treatment.”
“Prions could end up in wastewater treatment plants via slaughterhouse drains, hunted game cleaned in a sink, or humans with vCJD shedding prions in their urine or faeces, Pedersen says”
(Note – This UW research was conducted BEFORE UCSC scientists determined that Alzheimer’s Disease is another prion disease which may be shedding infectious prions into public sewers and Class B and Class A sludge “biosolids.)
Helane Shields, Alton, NH 03809
Infectious prions in sludge “biosolids” http://www.sludgevictims.com/pdf_files/PRIONSINSEWAGEANDSLUDGE_PEDERSEN_ETAL.pdf
http://www.sludgevictims.com/pathogens/ALZHEIMERS-CJD-samepriondisease.doc
http://www.sludgevictims.com/pathgens/prions-composting.html
http://www.sludgevictims.com/pathogens/prion.html
I agree that the British government has been stalling on this issue. It may be that given the recent lawsuits, they really do not want to find out how many people are infected or incubating vCJD. The filter is an option for tranfusions but can be costly. A Canadian company called Amorfix Life Sciences is very close to having a blood test for vCJD. They are testing this in France. They are also working with Britain but are awaiting access to samples from blood taken from those who have or who have died from vCJD. This will allow them to test their second generation detection kit which has a 1:5,000,000 sensitivity. Just a matter of time.
Blaine
You state “The filter is an option for transfusions but can be costly. ” The estimated cost for the UK is £75 Million pa. Tell me what price do you put on your life and the lives of you friends and relatives?
I don’t know how to stop anyone getting CJD, which research has found could be caused by injury or toxins as well as contaminated meats etc., but I believe the treatment of Vitamin B1 which was used successfully in Australia back as far as 1968, for the treatment of a brain wasting disease in livestock, could be the treatment for any kind of CJD, regardless of diagnosis or cause.
Research has found the symptoms of a brain wasting disease in livestock and CJD symptoms are similar, give or take a few and put into human terms.
Similar symptoms – why not similar treatment.
In 1968, a vet did urine tests which probably would work as well in humans, to detect possible brain wasting disease.
So information of the symptoms, treatment and detection of a brain wasting disease in livestock, just may be the saviour for anyone who starts to develop undiagnosed symptoms.
ainee