THE United Kingdom has followed the lead of the United States, Bermuda and other countries as far away as Japan and Australia, by restricting UK blood in the transfusion chain as a precaution against the human form of "mad cow" disease.

Bermuda's own blood-donation restrictions, put in place last year, initially affected the availability of blood, but donor levels have now recovered, according to the Bermuda Red Cross.

A Reuter report said Britain planned to import blood from the United States for transfusions for children born after 1996 to protect them from the risk of contracting the human form of "mad cow" disease.

Around 115 Britons have died from Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), believed by British Government experts to have been caught by eating contaminated beef. But children born after 1996 are thought to have escaped contact in the food chain.

Under the plan, the government would pay to import "fresh frozen" blood plasma from the vCJD-free United States for those children to ensure they are not exposed to the disease.

"Although there is no evidence that vCJD has been transmitted through human blood, it is right that we should take this precautionary step," British Public Health Minister Hazel Blears said in a statement. The children will continue to receive the plasma for the foreseeable future. "Before a test for vCJD or more scientific information becomes available, they will be given the imported plasma," a UK National Blood Service spokesman said.

White cells are already removed from transfusion blood in Britain, as these are regarded as the most dangerous potential carriers of vCJD.

The government is also to decide later this year whether to bar people who have had blood transfusions from giving blood themselves to reduce the risk of passing on vCJD.

Earlier this month, British newspapers reported that a UK research body, the Institute of Animal Health, had found that one in six sheep given blood with a similar disease developed the illness.

The results, to be published in November, suggest the danger of catching vCJD from blood transfusions is more serious than previously feared.

There are no confirmed cases of catching vCJD from blood transfusion, although British newspapers have reported that 22 people have received blood from eight people later diagnosed as suffering from the disease.

Meanwhile, Bermuda has now recovered most of the donation pool lost when restrictions were placed on certain donors, according to a Bermuda Red Cross report.

In January 2001, those who had spent more than six months cumulatively in Europe between 1980 and 1996 were prevented from giving blood.

However, Red Cross director Ann Spencer-Arscott said a report in February 2002 showed that Bermuda's blood levels had made it back from the severe shortfall.

"(Red Cross chairwoman) Barbara Cooper reported that we did lose 35 per cent of donors, due to 'mad cow' disease (restrictions). But, through corporate companies and the co-operation of regular, eligible donors, we have made up 83.5 per cent of that lost 35 per cent."

The magnitude of this catch-up was stressed by Dr. Keith Cunningham, a Red Cross member and Director of Laboratories at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

He outlined the extent of Bermuda's population excluded from donating blood, and the tradition which had made this such a committed donor base.

"Voluntary donation is a long-standing tradition in England," he said, and pointed out that the ban also affected Bermudians who had gone for education or other training in the UK and Europe from 1980 to 1996.

"We have lost a core group, but have been able to get 'new blood', for want of a better word," said Mrs. Spencer-Arscott.

Blood donor volunteers can contact the Donor Centre, at 236-5067.