3.13 Prion-associated diseases - Care and selection of whole blood and component donors (including donors of pre-deposit autologous blood)

Individuals who are identified as having an increased risk of developing a prion-associated disease, including sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and variant CJD (vCJD), must be permanently excluded from donation. This includes:

• Individuals who have received human pituitary-derived hormones.
• Patients who have received grafts of human dura mater or cornea, sclera or other ocular tissue.
• Persons identified as being members of a family at risk of inherited prion diseases.
• Persons who are known to have received an allogeneic tissue or blood transfusion since 1980 (for these purposes, a transfusion is defined as any product containing red cells, platelets, granulocytes, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate-depleted plasma, buffy coat preparations and intravenous or subcutaneous human normal immunoglobulin and includes mothers whose babies have required intrauterine transfusion).
• Persons who have been told that they have been put at increased risk from surgery, transfusion or transplant of tissues or organs.
• Persons who have been told that they may be at increased risk because a recipient of their blood or tissues has developed a prion-related disorder

The current Whole Blood and Components Donor Selection Guidelines provides detailed advice and should be consulted.