ECDC plays an important role in providing its stakeholders with scientific advice when requested. On 23 September 2010 ECDC received such a request from the European Commission’s DG SANCO (Directorate C – Public Health and Risk Assessment).
Two developments in the field of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) occurred in 2009. In order to address a number of questions that were raised, ECDC internal and external experts prepared this risk assessment. The document focuses on how these new facts affect the current assumptions regarding transmissibility of the disease through blood transfusion and tissue/cells transplantation.