Mad cow in the blood supply

last updated 8 January 2015

London

Thousands of British citizens have been banned from giving blood because of fears of transmitting mad cow disease. Health Secretary John Reid said this week that a man who died of the human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, might have contracted it from a transfusion. Now, anyone who has had a blood transfusion since 1980 may not give blood. Mad cow disease, which causes a fatal degeneration of the brain, can be passed to humans through the eating of contaminated beef, particularly organ meats. At least 139 people have died of the illness in Britain since it emerged there nine years ago.