Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 16 June (WA 198), whether the possible threat of vCJD infection to patients with haemophilia supported by the Macfarlane Trust was taken into account by officials at the Department of Health when discussing with the Association of British Insurers the general issue of insurance for such patients.
Answer
The department was aware of the fact that many haemophilia patients were co-infected with both human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C at the time of its discussions with the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) incidents panel has separately discussed with the ABI, the issue of patients who might be at risk of having been infected with vCJD, after receiving contaminated blood and blood products.