Tuesday 8th March, 2005

Japan moves to protect its blood banks


Big News Network.com Tuesday 8th March, 2005 (UPI)

Japan has banned people who spent even one day in England or France from 1980 to 1996 from donating blood, for fear they may have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Health Ministry officials said a man who was recently found to have contracted the rare disease was in England for 24 days and in France for three days in the first half of 1990, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday.

During his stay in England, he ate beef that may have been tainted with mad cow disease, a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which affects humans, the report said.

Since the man had never undergone surgery or had a blood transfusion, officials concluded the cause of his disease was eating beef from a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

The ministry decided to also ban blood donations from people who had stayed in France even though what he ate in France was unclear.

Japan Red Cross Society officials have expressed fears this could lead to a shortage of blood.