# Research Study to Assess the Risk of Blood-Borne Transmission of Classic Forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS · 2021 · $77,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, fatal, neurodegenerative disorder caused by
abnormal prion agents. Transmissibility of the non-variant (sporadic, familial, iatrogenic) forms
of CJD by blood transfusion is currently unknown, while variant CJD (vCJD) has been
transmitted by blood transfusion. The proposed project will continue the only active nationwide
look-back study on recipients of blood products from donors subsequently diagnosed with CJD.
This study began in 1995 and has been working for the past 24 years on the key objective of
carefully and systematically assessing the risk of blood borne transmission of this disease in the
United States. The major components of the study include collaboration with multiple sources to
identify blood donors diagnosed with CJD in the United States; working with blood centers to
trace the blood components from these donors to final disposition; collecting vital status and
cause of death information (if applicable) on the recipients of these blood components; utilizing
the data from the study to continually monitor and assess the risk of blood-borne transmission of
CJD; and disseminating results of the study to relevant stakeholders.
 To date, the study has enrolled 76 blood donors who died of CJD and 1,000 recipients of
their blood. Through 2016, 211 of these recipients were presumed to be still alive and 789 were
deceased. Following transfusion, these two groups have survived a total of 4898 person-years. A
total of 337 recipients survived five years or longer post transfusion and 125 of them had
received blood donated 60 or fewer months before the onset of CJD in the donor. No recipients
with CJD have been identified.
 The current results of this large, ongoing lookback study show no evidence of transfusion
transmission of CJD. They reinforce the conclusion that the risk, if any, of transfusion
transmission of prion disease by CJD donors is significantly lower than the comparable risk of
such transmission by vCJD donors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10382198
- **Project number:** 5U01CK000570-03
- **Recipient organization:** AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS
- **Principal Investigator:** Whitney Randolph Steele
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $77,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10382198

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10382198, Research Study to Assess the Risk of Blood-Borne Transmission of Classic Forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (5U01CK000570-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10382198. Licensed CC0.

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