‘Mad cow’ disease restrictions on blood donations to be removed

The New Zealand Blood Service has announced Medsafe approved its recommendation that the “mad cow” disease restriction on blood donations be removed.

People who lived in the UK, France or the Republic of Ireland between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1996 for six months or more have not been able to donate blood.

That is because those infected with “mad cow” disease of vCJD could potentially pass it on through blood transfusions.

But NZ Blood’s website said that group would soon be able to give blood and plasma, and could even pre-register to donate on the service’s website.

The submission was made to the medical regulatory body in August 2023 and the service said it was currently updating systems to support the change.

Earlier this year, RNZ reported an infectious disease specialist wanted to end the ban because the risk associated with that group donating blood was extremely low.

The Blood Service told RNZ lifting the “mad cow” disease restriction on blood donations is safe.

NZ Blood marketing and communications manager Asuka Burge said a lot of work has gone into making the change.

“Our clinical team have worked with epidemiology and infectious disease experts to ensure they’ve researched this thoroughly, and obviously the submission to Medsafe and their approval ensures it’s safe for everybody”.

She said there is eligibility criteria for all blood and plasma donors to protect them and patients who receive the blood.

Burge was unable to put an exact date on when the ban will be lifted, and the affected group can start to donate.

But she said getting new donors signing up is crucial for the blood service to meet its targets.

“We do need to collect more than 5000 donations every week. This will be significant to have more people helping out, lending their arm and giving that lifesaving blood or plasma”.

Cases of vCJD peaked 23 years ago in 2000 and have since declined, with no new cases since 2019. Only three confirmed cases were ever linked to a blood transfusion.

Australia and America lifted their restrictions in July and November 2022 respectively.