Condition
Sporadic, familial and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker diseases and fatal familial insomnia.
Individual at risk
Recipient
Guidance at RECRUITMENT for adult volunteer donor and maternal donor (cord blood donation)
Unacceptable if:
1. diagnosed with any form of CJD or other prion-associated disorder.
2. identified as at increased risk of developing a prion-associated disorder. This includes:
a) individuals at familial risk of developing a prion-associated disorder (have had two or more blood relatives develop a prion-associated disorder or have been informed they are at risk following genetic counselling.)
b) individuals who have been told they have been put at increased risk from surgery, transfusion or transplant of tissues and organs.
c) individuals who have been told they may be at increased risk because a recipient of blood or tissues they have donated has developed a prion-related disorder.
d) recipients of dura mater grafts
e) recipients of corneal, scleral or other ocular tissue grafts.
f) recipients of human pituitary derived extracts eg Metrodin, human growth hormone.
Guidance at CT/WORK-UP
List as above.
If the donor is asymptomatic then they may proceed at the discretion of the requesting transplant centre.
Justification for guidance
Prion-associated diseases are transmissible by transfusion of blood and likely to be transmissible by stem cells too.