October 21, 2004
Washington Times
PARIS (AP) -- A donor whose blood was used to transfuse 10 people and to manufacture medicines has been identified as France's eighth known victim of the human equivalent of mad cow disease, health officials announced Thursday.
Authorities are working to identify the 10 blood recipients. Once identified, their doctors will inform them they may have been exposed to the disease, said Jean-Francois Riffaud of France's national blood service.
Officials would not give the gender or other details about the person infected with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but said he or she is still alive.
The person, the eighth identified since 1996 to be suffering from CJD in France, "was a blood donor several times between 1993 and 2003," said a statement from France's Directorate General of Health.
The seven other people known to be infected with CJD did not give blood, the statement said.
Blood from the donor was also used in the manufacture of 88 batches of medicines, enough for several thousand people, officials said. Authorities identified 16 batches that remained in circulation and have recalled them. The rest were either used or were destroyed, officials said.
Health authorities stressed, however, that there is no proof that CJD can be transmitted through such blood products.
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