Tainted-Blood Recipient Dies of ‘Mad Cow’ Illness

Britain announced the first reported case of a person dying from the human form of “mad cow” disease after a blood transfusion from an infected donor.

Health Secretary John Reid said it wasn’t possible to determine whether the transfusion recipient contracted the brain-wasting illness from the donor or if the two were independently infected. But it was the first report supporting the idea that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease might be transmitted by transfusions.

Britain has already placed extra precautions on the blood supply, but the transfusion in the case reported Wednesday occurred in 1996, a year before such safeguards were implemented.