The health ministry, aiming to quell fears of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, will ban blood donations from people who stayed in Britain or France for even a single day between 1980 and 1996, ministry officials said Tuesday.

The plan, however, has raised concerns about a potential shortage in the nation's blood banks.

It was not clear when the new ban will take effect.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's decision stems from the confirmation last month of Japan's first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal, incurable affliction believed to be caused by meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

According to a report released by a ministry panel Monday, Japan's first vCJD fatality was a Japanese man who died in December last year. He had stayed in Britain for 24 days in 1990 and is believed to have eaten such foods as hamburgers and gravy that could have been tainted with BSE, the report said.

Britain has had about 150 cases of vCJD.

The Japanese man also spent three days in France, where mad cow disease was widely reported, the report said.

Ministry officials took a serious view of the fact that his visits had been fairly short, and decided to restrict blood donations from those who had visited either of the two countries for one day or longer.

The Japanese Red Cross Society said the ban could prevent blood donations from several hundred thousand people, causing a serious shortage in blood supplies.

Blood donations from people who had stayed in Britain for at least one month after 1980 have been restricted under the current ban. People who stayed for six months or longer in nine other European countries, including France, also cannot donate blood.(IHT/Asahi: March 9,2005)