In Other Journals

The patient with the first probable case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) contracted after a blood transfusion has died. The death has prompted an editorialist to outline the expensive, intrusive but necessary steps in preventing further human-to-human transmission in the UK. Many people who were caught up in the surgical web spun out from recipients of "at vCJD risk" blood and blood products will need to be managed as if vCJD had been diagnosed. They may also need to accept restrictions on what they can do until we know more, so as not to expose others to potential risk.