Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and its variant (vCJD) are degenerative and fatal neurological diseases with a long incubation period. Recent studies have described a potential association between vCJD and blood transmission. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the deferral criteria for CJD and vCJD in our institution since their implementation in 2001. Based on scientific data, we have adopted deferral criteria for the prevention of CJD and vCJD through blood transfusion since 2001. Blood donors are deferred if they spent more than 6 months cumulatively in the United Kingdom from January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1996, 10 years cumulatively in France, Portugal, or the Irish Republic since 1980, received human pituitary-derived growth hormone or corneal transplants or had one or more blood relatives with familial CJD. The deferral rate concerning these criteria was retrospectively evaluated for all blood donation candidates from January 2001 to December 2004. A total of 1,015,587 pre-donation interviews were evaluated. The deferral rate for CJD and vCJD was 0.049% in 2001, 0.051% in 2002, 0.092% in 2003 and 0.098% in 2004, denoting a permanent deferral of 726 (0.068%) blood donors. The most frequent deferral reasons for CJD and vCJD was spending more than 6 months cumulatively in the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1996 (0.025%) followed by corneal transplants (0.019%) and use of pituitary-derived human growth hormone (0.014%). The number of deferrals related to CJD and its variant was very low at our center. It is feasible to support the "Precautionary Principle" for CJD and vCJD at our center without jeopardizing blood supply.
Blood donors; Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; prions
