The prevailing theory is that nvCJD is caused by ingesting meat contaminated with nervous tissue from cattle with the closely related disease, bovine spongiform encephelopathy (BSE, also called "mad cow disease"). About 100 people in the United Kingdom have contracted nvCJD. The current proposal to refuse blood from European donors stems from the fact that the United Kingdom, although worst hit by the BSE epidemic, is not the sole country with BSE-infected cattle. Ireland, France, Portugal, and Switzerland all have had hundreds of cattle diagnosed with BSE and many EU nations have imported some cattle that later were found to have BSE. In fact, nvCJD is also not limited to the United Kingdom; Ireland and France together have less than 10 cases.
At present, the United States does not accept blood from people living in or who have spent significant amounts of time in the United Kingdom. An advisory panel ...
