Can prion diseases be transmitted between individuals via blood transfusion: evidence from sheep experiments
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species
Published on: November 6, 2013
1Institute for Animal Health, Neuropathogenesis Unit, Edinburgh, UK. nora.hunter@bbsrc.ac.uk
Abstract:
We have shown that it is possible to transmit bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE) to a sheep by transfusion with whole blood taken from another sheep during the pre-clinical phase of an experimental BSE infection when the donor animal appears healthy. BSE and new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans are caused by the same infectious agent and the sheep-BSE experimental model has similar pathogenesis, with involvement of the lymphoreticular system, to that of human vCJD. Although we have had only one case of positive transmission of BSE out of a total of 21 transfusions, our studies remain incomplete and further cases could occur. Our studies, however, reinforce the possibility that whole blood donated by pre-clinical vCJD-infected humans may represent a risk of spreading vCJD infection among the human population of the U.K.
Related Concept Videos
Subviral Agents
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
Viral Recombination
Rabies
Transmission of Pathogens

