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19/08/2009
Coroners 'Refuse' To Test For vCJD
Coroners are refusing to carry out post-mortem tests for an infection which causes vCJD, despite government pleas that it could help monitor the spread of the disease, it has been reported.
Tests carried out during post-mortem examinations could give an indication of how many people in the country have the infection.
Scientists have warned that people could be carrying the disease without showing any symptoms.
The tests would help determine if measures in use to protect blood transfusion and surgical patients are sufficient, but coroners claim carrying out these actions could undermine their neutrality.
According to the BBC, the Spongiform Encepalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), who are responsible for advising ministers on the issue, told the government two years ago that it was important to find out how many people were silently carrying the infection.
To do this, during post-mortems, coroners must test the brain and spleen of young people for the presence of the infectious agent-known as a prion.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Professor John Collinge, a member of SEAC, said: "There is a concern that what we have seen so far may be the first wave occurring in individuals who are particularly genetically susceptible but there may be more people who are silently infected in the community than the number of clinical cases we have seen would suggest."
vCJD arose in the 1980s as a result of eating beef from cattle infected with BSE, since then 164 people have died of the disease.
QC Dr Michael Powers, an expert in coroners' law, said: "There are acts and rules which govern what coroners can and can't do. This would be an added extra, outside their legal framework.
"It may well be that it could be done but for it to be done the coroners would have to be given more resources than they are presently being given"
Christine Lord, whose 24-year-old son Andy died of vCJD in December 2007, said: "I'm looking for coroners to do their duty to face a ticking health time bomb."
(GK/KMcA)
Tests carried out during post-mortem examinations could give an indication of how many people in the country have the infection.
Scientists have warned that people could be carrying the disease without showing any symptoms.
The tests would help determine if measures in use to protect blood transfusion and surgical patients are sufficient, but coroners claim carrying out these actions could undermine their neutrality.
According to the BBC, the Spongiform Encepalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), who are responsible for advising ministers on the issue, told the government two years ago that it was important to find out how many people were silently carrying the infection.
To do this, during post-mortems, coroners must test the brain and spleen of young people for the presence of the infectious agent-known as a prion.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Professor John Collinge, a member of SEAC, said: "There is a concern that what we have seen so far may be the first wave occurring in individuals who are particularly genetically susceptible but there may be more people who are silently infected in the community than the number of clinical cases we have seen would suggest."
vCJD arose in the 1980s as a result of eating beef from cattle infected with BSE, since then 164 people have died of the disease.
QC Dr Michael Powers, an expert in coroners' law, said: "There are acts and rules which govern what coroners can and can't do. This would be an added extra, outside their legal framework.
"It may well be that it could be done but for it to be done the coroners would have to be given more resources than they are presently being given"
Christine Lord, whose 24-year-old son Andy died of vCJD in December 2007, said: "I'm looking for coroners to do their duty to face a ticking health time bomb."
(GK/KMcA)
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