London -Three people given eye tissue transplants taken from a CJD victim have not yet been told of the donor's illness, it emerged last night. The Scottish Health Minister, Mr Sam Galbraith, said doctors treating them would decide "how and when" to tell them. The British government has already launched an inquiry into the incident and action to plug the loopholes which allowed the corneas and other eye issue from Marion Hamilton (53) to be given to two men and to a woman in her 80s. Their identities and home towns have not been disclosed, but officials agreed that under Britain's nationwide organ-matching machinery they could be anywhere in the UK.
Mr Galbraith, a neurosurgeon, said the dead woman had been suffering from "classic" Creutzfeld Jakob Disease, not the new variant linked to BSE. He said the likely risk of the recipients becoming infected was "very small".