Written question asked by Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 11 June 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 15 June 2007. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Friday, 15 June 2007 on behalf of the Department of Health.

CJD

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to inform those who received blood known to be at risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) contamination that they could be at risk of contracting vCJD; and if she will make a statement.

Answer: The Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD) incidents panel advises on the assessment and management of risk to patients who may potentially have been exposed to CJD following medical interventions. In December 2003, following the first suspected case of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Diseases (vCJD) transmission through whole blood transfusion, the first patient notification exercise was undertaken to notify recipients of blood components donated by people who later developed vCJD. There are currently around 24 people in this group who are still alive.Since then, three other notification exercises have been implemented in respect of recipients of certain plasma products. There are approximately 5,000 people in this group, which includes patients with haemophilia A and B and Von Willebrand’s Disease to whom it was indicated that they had received United Kingdom sourced plasma derived vCJD implicated products during the period 1980-2001, and would therefore be considered at risk of vCJD for public health purposes. Additionally notification has been given to about 100 blood donors to patients who later developed vCJD.All the information documents used for these notification exercises are available on the Health Protection Agency website at:"www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/cjd/information_documents.htm."

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 142680; 461 c1383-4W
Session: 2006-07
Notes: Columns in printed daily part are numbered two columns ahead of columns on Hansard Online. Column numbers on PIMS refer to Hansard Online
Subjects: Blood CJD
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk