Spain lifts 'mad cow disease' ban on Brits donating blood

Spanish medical authorities have lifted the ban on people who lived in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996 from donating blood, a measure that comes 29 years after the outbreak of what is commonly known as ‘mad cow disease’.

The move represents a significant update to advice from Spain's Health Ministry following approval by the Scientific Committee for Transfusion Safety, and will open up Spain's blood donation system to potentially tens of thousands more donors across the country.

READ ALSO: How can you donate blood in Spain?

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a neurological disease fatal to adult cows. It was first discovered in 1986, but it was not until 1996 that scientists detected the first cases of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob variant in humans.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was caused by the consumption of beef from BSE infected cows and caused a brain disorder with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's, "as if the brain were softening," Dr Cristina Arbona Castaño, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Haematology and Haemotherapy, told the Spanish press.

The outbreak in the UK caused British beef to be banned from export. Four million cattle were slaughtered and 178 people died after eating contaminated meat.

In 1998, EU guidance suggested that the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) was considered transmissible through blood and many countries around the world introduced restrictions on blood donors who had lived or travelled to the UK during that time and could be carriers.

However, new scientific evidence points to the likelihood of transmission via blood donations as being incredibly low.

Australian experts have estimated that the current risk of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease through transmission from a donor who has been a patient is less than one in 1.5 million per donated blood sample, concluding that the risk is practically non-existent.

The rule change in Spain will open up the transfusion system to thousands more potential donors. In certain parts of the country, such as Alicante and the Balearic Islands, British residents make up a significant percentage of the total population.

According to the latest data from Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE) for 2022, 19,569 British nationals were living in the Balearic Islands. With this ban, the Balearic community "was losing a very significant number of donors", according to the Spanish press.

Spain has several other restrictions on blood donation, including people on antibiotics, people on other medications such as Proscar, Propacia or Proacutan, those suffering from anemia or who have had recent surgeries and pregnant women, among others.