There are two forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, each of which can be contracted in a different way. This means that different rules are needed to prevent the disease from being passed on to donors.
Classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare brain disease. Since 1995, we have asked every donor questions in relation to this disease. Among other things, we ask whether you have ever been treated with growth hormones or thyroid-stimulating hormones of human origin. Growth hormone of human origin has not been available in the Netherlands since 1985. Also, if you have had an organ or tissue transplant, it is not possible for you to be a donor, because there is a very small chance of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease through a transplant. There are no known cases of classic CJD being transmitted via a blood transfusion, but theoretically we cannot rule out the possibility that it could happen.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
A variant of this disease, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), is thought to be caused by eating beef from cattle infected with BSE (‘mad cow disease’). vCJD can be transmitted through blood transfusions. There is no test for it, and symptoms can take decades to develop after infection. People who had received a blood transfusion after 1 January 1980 were therefore excluded from donating blood to ensure that a donor with an undetected infection did not transmit the disease over a long period.
Safety of the blood supply
More than 40 years have now passed since the start of this exclusion period. In the 1990s, the infection of vCJD via food was prevented (by destroying livestock). The incubation period has passed by a wide margin and in the countries that were most affected by contaminated food, only a very small number of people were ever infected. In addition, since the introduction of leukocyte filtration (filtering out white blood cells) in 1999, no further transmission of vCJD via blood transfusion has been identified.
All of this provides sufficient grounds to adjust the policy: from 1 October 2024, receiving a blood transfusion will no longer automatically be a reason to exclude a donor. Instead, we will look at the reason for the blood transfusion the person has received. After October 2024, Sanquin will also look at ways to relax other rules. The rule regarding residence in the United Kingdom in the period from 1980 to 1996 will also be reconsidered.
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