Dementia cannot be caught through blood transfusions, say scientists 

Fears that dementia could be caught through blood transfusions are unfounded, say researchers  

Dementia cannot be caught through blood transfusions, a new study has shown.

Last year researchers at University College London warned that some patients who had contracted Creuzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) through medical accidents also had Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that the diseases were transmitted at the same time.

They warned that ‘theoretically’ the seeds of dementia could be accidentally passed on through a blood transfusion.

But now a large study by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has found that there is no risk of transference.

Researchers looked at 2.1 million people who had received blood transfusions from 1.7 million donors over a 40 year period.

They found there was no difference in the rates of neurological disease between those given transfusions from dementia sufferers or the dementia-free.

“The results are unusually clear for such a complicated subject as this,” says principal investigator Gustaf Edgren, docent at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute.

“We’ve been working with this 

question for a long time now and have found no indication that these diseases can be transmitted via transfusions.

“Blood transfusions are extremely safe in the Western world today, but even so we are working continuously and proactively on identifying any overlooked risks.”

There were fears that dementia caught through medical accidents would not emerge for 40 years  CREDIT: ALAMY 

Between 1958 and 1985 nearly 2,000 people of short stature in Britain were given pituitary growth hormone taken from dead donors in the belief if would help them grow.

But unknowingly the hormones were infected with CJD and nearly 80 people have since died because of medical error.

Last year British scientists who were studying the brains of patients who had died from CJD, found large quantities of amyloid beta protein - a sticky deposit which forms among brain cells and stops them communicating with each other properly in Alzheimer's patients.Mm

They found there was no difference in the rates of neurological disease between those given transfusions from dementia sufferers or the dementia-free.

“The results are unusually clear for such a complicated subject as this,” says principal investigator Gustaf Edgren, docent at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute.

“We’ve been working with this question for a long time now and have found no indication that these diseases can be transmitted via transfusions.

“Blood transfusions are extremely safe in the Western world today, but even so we are working continuously and proactively on identifying any overlooked risks.”

There were fears that dementia caught through medical accidents would not emerge for 40 years  CREDIT: ALAMY 

Between 1958 and 1985 nearly 2,000 people of short stature in Britain were given pituitary growth hormone taken from dead donors in the belief if would help them grow.

But unknowingly the hormones were infected with CJD and nearly 80 people have since died because of medical error.

Last year British scientists who were studying the brains of patients who had died from CJD, found large quantities of amyloid beta protein - a sticky deposit which forms among brain cells and stops them communicating with each other properly in Alzheimer's patients.

The researchers suggested that dementia was ‘seeded’ in the brains of the patients at the same times as CJD.

The also warned that because the incubation period can be up to 40 years, people could be unaware that they had been contaminated in medical procedures.

However the government's Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, said the Department of Health was monitoring the situation and reassured the public that there was little risk.

The new research was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. 

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