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Article: Variant of Mad Cow Disease May Be Transmitted by Blood Transfusions, According to Animal Study.
- Article from:
- Blood Weekly
- Article date:
- September 11, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 NewsRX. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Blood transfusions are a valuable treatment mechanism in modern medicine, but can come with the risk of donor disease transmission. Researchers are continually studying the biology of blood products to understand how certain diseases are transmitted in an effort to reduce this risk during blood transfusions. According to a study in sheep prepublished online in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, the risk of transmitting bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as "mad cow disease") by blood transfusion is surprisingly high (see also Transfusion Medicine).
BSE is one of a group of rare neurodegenerative disorders called ...