So, I lived in St.Andrews, Scotland in 1989-90 attending the university there. I am a born and bred USA citizen but was in the UK for that period of time. I loved it actually and wanted to stay there but for the fact my student visa expired at the end of my program and I came back....before I left for the UK, I donated blood to the Red Cross very regularly, I felt it a charitable thing to do...while I was there, I continued to eat my diet from back home, which at that time, consisted of cheeseburgers a few times per week. I ate them from a local shop there in town as well as from frozen patties I bought at the market.

When my program was over in the UK and I came back home to Cali, I learned about CJD and was mortified with fear over Mad Cow. I consumed a LOT of potentially compromised beef during that time, and, was therefore potentially a victim...

Once I was back home, I tried to donate blood again at the Red Cross, they asked my travel history and they flatly turned me down as a donor when I disclosed I had been living in the UK during that time. Being turned down was pretty sad for me as I believed that donating was a mercy for people who really needed it. I had received an award actually due to how much I had donated ...it's now been nearly 40 years and I have not shown any symptoms YET, but, as a previous poster noted, the incubation period can potentially go up to 50 years..