Transmission of BSE by blood transfusion in sheep.
We have shown that it is possible to transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to a sheep by transfusion with whole blood taken from another sheep during the symptom-free phase of an experimental BSE infection. BSE and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) In human beings are caused by the same infectious agent, and the sheep-BSE experimental model has a similar pathogenesis to that of human vCJD. Although UK blood transfusions are leucodepleted--a possible protective measure against any risk from blood transmission--this report suggests that blood donated by symptom-free vCJD-infected human beings may represent a risk of spread of vCJD infection among the human population of the UK.
Houston
F
F
Foster
J D
JD
Chong
A
A
Hunter
N
N
Bostock
C J
CJ
D000818:Animals; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000635:transmission*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012756:Sheep; D065227:Transfusion Reaction
D018620:PrPSc Proteins