German experts call for British blood ban

BERLIN, Germany -- German health experts are calling for people who have lived in Britain to be barred from giving blood amid fears they may transmit the human form of mad cow disease.

The German Health Ministry said its working group on blood issues made the recommendation because of fears that the fatal human brain-wasting illness new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) might be transmitted through blood transfusions.

It said that those who had lived in Britain for more than six months between 1980 and 1996 should be excluded.

At least 84 people have died in Britain from vCJD, which has been linked to eating beef from cattle suffering from bovine spongiform encaphalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as mad cow disease.

Health Minister Andrea Fischer welcomed the move, saying: "Even if the risk of transmitting vCJD through blood is only a hypothetical risk not yet proven scientifically, the position of the working group blood is a contribution to improving the quality of blood products and to reduce the not-yet-excluded danger that patients can be infected with vCJD through blood products."

A ministry spokeswoman said the recommendation was "important" but did not represent an official government order. The disease can lie unnoticed for up to 20 years but usually kills within 12-to-18 months once symptoms appear.

While there has never been a reported case of transmission of vCJD through blood transfusions or the use of blood products, a recent report published by Scottish researchers in Britain's The Lancet medical journal showed that transmission of both vCJD and BSE might be possible through transfusions.

France has asked scientists to study the possibility that BSE can be transmitted in such a manner.

Australia said in September that it would ban thousands of donors from giving blood if they had made extended visits to Britain.

The United States, Canada and New Zealand have also imposed bans similar to the one proposed by the German experts.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Human BSE Foundation
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
German Government

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