Two different questions get mixed together here. One is whether a person can give organs or tissue to help someone else. The other is whether a family can donate brain tissue for research after a death. The answers are not the same.
Can someone with prion disease donate organs or tissue?
No. Anyone diagnosed with CJD or another human prion disease is excluded from donating.
The exclusion also covers people identified as being at increased risk, which includes anyone with two or more blood relatives who developed a prion disease, anyone told through genetic counselling that they are at risk, and anyone told that surgery, a transfusion or a transplant put them at increased risk. People who received a graft of dura mater, which is the membrane covering the brain, an eye tissue graft, or hormone extracts made from human pituitary glands are also excluded.
The same rules apply to donating bone marrow and stem cells.
Why does a past transplant stop someone donating?
Anyone who has received human tissue from another person since 1 January 1980 is asked not to donate. The guidelines say this follows advice from the UK expert committee, which was concerned about a possible later wave of variant CJD cases arising through people who had received tissue or organ transplants, in the same way as through people who had received transfusions.
That is a precaution built on an uncertainty, not a finding that transplants have caused cases.
Does being excluded mean something is wrong with me?
No. These rules are written to protect the people who would receive the organs or tissue, so they include anyone whose risk cannot be ruled out, however small or theoretical.
If you have been told you are at increased risk and want to know why, the team that told you is the place to ask, and your GP can arrange that conversation. Nothing here can assess an individual’s situation.
What about donating brain tissue for research?
That is a separate process and families are often asked about it. It is arranged through the specialist prion services rather than through the organ donation system, and it happens after death as part of a post-mortem examination of the brain.
Autopsy and brain donation explains what is involved, who arranges it, what it costs and how it affects funeral plans. Saying no is a valid choice there too.
Who sets these rules?
In the UK, the committee that advises ministers and the four health departments on the safety of blood, cells, tissues and organs. Its guidance on the microbiological safety of human organs, tissues and cells used in transplantation is published by the Department of Health and Social Care, first issued in 2011, replaced by a 2017 version and last changed in 2024.
Rules differ by country. The national transplant or blood service can say what applies where you live.
Where next
Blood and plasma covers blood donation, which uses similar exclusions. Surgery and instruments covers operations. The other questions are on the safety hub. The research version is tissue and organs, and official documents are tracked in the regulations atlas.