Hong Kong is facing another health alert after officials revealed last night that plasma imported in 1994 had come from a donor who died of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD), the human variant of mad cow disease. Although health chiefs launched an urgent recall, doctors stressed the shelf life of the 450 vials of plasma would normally be six months and it was unlikely affected patients could ever be traced. The batch - Protenate 5%, Batch: 2836C415AA - was manufactured by Baxter Healthcare Corp of the United States and imported to Hong Kong in September 1994. It was sold only to private doctors, clinics and hospitals - none went to the Hospital Authority. The Department of Health learned from the pharmaceutical manufacturer through the Internet yesterday that the vials had come from a donor who died later of CJD. Hong Kong Medical Association representative Dr So Kai-ming doubted the plasma recipients could be traced years after the drug was used. 'Most doctors probably don't have records . . . you wouldn't know unless you kept the invoice. But that probably won't even state the batch number. They would have no record of which patient it had been used on,' said Dr So. Private hospitals might keep more stringent records, he said, 'but even then it would be difficult [to trace].' Because of the plasma's short shelf-life, it would have been given to patients between September 1994 and March 1995. Medical legislator Dr Leong Che-hung said a Food and Drug Administration similar to that in the United States was urgently required in light of the incident. 'This happened in 1994, so it's been years now. I'm sure they would have all been used,' Dr Leong said. 'How much should we really be looking at complete regulation, control and registration of drugs in Hong Kong? 'At least then we would have good records, so we could trace drugs if we wanted to,' he said. A Department of Health spokesman said the recall was a 'precautionary measure undertaken by Baxter'. 'There is at present no evidence that CJD is transmitted by blood or blood products.'
