Abstract
The detection of prion protein in widely used urine-derived fertility drugs has raised the possibility that prions from urine donors with (asymptomatic) prion disease could be present in these drugs. A high level of uncertainty exists regarding this issue. An international expert panel provided judgments related to prion disease transmission through fertility drug use in a structured expert elicitation. The elicitation gauged expert judgements about the uncertainty surrounding potential prion disease risks associated with urine-derived fertility drugs and emphasised the scientific ambiguity surrounding disease transmission risk factors associated with urine-derived fertility drugs. Group aggregated responses indicate that the theoretical risk of prion disease transmission with urine-derived fertility drugs was judged to be very low. The experts judged recombinant fertility drugs produced with bovine serum to possess 10-fold lower risk compared to urine-derived fertility drugs. Fertility drugs made without fetal bovine serum were judged to present a risk approximately 1,200 times lower compared to urine-derived counterparts. This elicitation indicates recombinant fertility drugs carry relatively less risk than urine-derived fertility drugs. However, the associated uncertainties are significant and pro-active surveillance of possible new routes of transmission of human prion disease warrants consideration of new scientific data as it becomes available.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 109-127 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 19 Jul 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 19 Jul 2019 |
Bibliographical note
The acceptance date for this record is provisional and based upon the month of publication for the article.Keywords
- prion disease
- variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- urine
- recombinant
- fertility
- transmission
- expert elicitation
- uncertainties
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