When I worked at a blood donation center 4 years ago, we had just started
adding a question to our medical histories that said,
"Do you have a blood relative who has been diagnosed with CJD? Have you
ever had a dura mater transplant?"
Unless things have changed since then, there is no laboratory test to detect
the disease and it can only be diagnosed via brain biopsy. We were told
that people can have the disease for up to 25 years before exhibiting
symptoms and that once people exhibited symptoms, the progression of the
disease was swift, with death usually occurring within 1 year. We were told
that most people exhibiting symptoms were over 50 years old. I actually did
have to defer one person whose grandfather had just died of CJD and she said
it was horrifying. Within months he has bedridden and unable to communicate
and subsequently died.
We were also told that there had been no cases of transmission of CJD
through blood, but that theoretically it was possible..... and that it was
thought that 10% of cases of CJD were inherited (thus the deferral if a
blood relative had the disease).
If someone donated blood and it was later determined that they developed
CJD, their blood would have to be tracked and the recipients notified, or if
not used, the blood would be destroyed.
The bottom line from what I understand is that there was no proof that CJD
is inherited, and there was no proof that CJD is transmissible via blood or
blood products... however, better safe than sorry.
So from what I know, a baby would have that theoretical risk genetically
already.... *if* there was CJD in the baby's family.
I don't think there's a way to be totally sure that one is safe from CJD...
as of 1996 there was no way to determine if one had it and there was no sure
indication of route of transmission except for human pituitary-derived
growth hormone and dura-mater transplantation..... therefore I don't see
how one can know if it can be passed on via breastmilk and it wouldn't
really matter if it were unless there is a way now to determine if someone
has CJD other than brain biopsy.
Regards,
Cindi Swisher, RN
[log in to unmask]
Yongsan, Seoul, Korea
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: Jakob-Creutzfeldt
> Golly you guys are fast!! Just as I was about to write in some
information,
> there
> were already loads of responses, so I won't repeat what's already been
said.
>
> There has not been an appearance of this in women of childbearing age and
> there
> is no description of this being something that is passed on from mother to
> child.
> I don't think it is even known how it is spread. It probably won't be
heat
> resistant.
>
> Tammy Arbeter
>
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