From today, patients who have received transfusions since 1980 are banned from giving blood amid concerns over the human form of BSE.

The Government announced last month that experts had advised a ban on blood donation by anyone who had had a transfusion since January 1980 because of a slight risk of the transmission of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD).

Health Secretary John Reid said the move would inevitably lead to a reduction in the supply of blood available for transfusions because about 52,000 donors would be excluded, prompting urgent calls for new donors.

The ban comes after the Government announced in December that a patient died of the disease after receiving blood years earlier from a donor who contracted vCJD.

The case was the first of its kind recorded in the world and prompted concern from doctors, MPs and the public.

The National Blood Service estimated the ban would mean the loss of 3.2 per cent of all blood donors, and said it still needed to collect 9,000 donations every day.

Last month, The Northern Echo launched the Lifeblood Appeal to urge new or lapsed donors to fill the gaps in the ranks of blood donors.

For more information about giving blood, contact the National Blood Service helpline on 0845 7711711 or visit the www. blood.co. uk website.