Tests may reveal "mad cow" blood blocker
LONDON (Reuters) - Tests on hamsters may have revealed a way to block the transmission through blood transfusions of the human form of mad cow disease, a study in the medical journal the Lancet said on Friday.
The discovery is important because there is no way of testing blood for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and people can carry the infection for decades without showing symptoms.
Three people have died in Britain after receiving infected transfusions.
"This is a significant breakthrough in our quest to prevent the transmission of the prion responsible for vCJD," said Pierre Laurin, president of Montreal-based ProMetic, one of the companies in a joint venture which developed the resin that filters vCJD.
