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Scientists have developed technology that may prevent the transmission of the human form of "mad cow" disease by filtering the pathogens that cause the illness out of tainted blood, according to a study published in The Lancet.

Researchers used a filter containing a resin designed to capture abnormal proteins called prions, which cause mad cow disease and scrapie.

The technology removed prions from the blood of scrapie-infected animals to the limit of detection. None of 100 hamsters inoculated with the filtered blood contracted the disease, while 15 of 99 hamsters inoculated with untreated blood were infected, the study showed.

"This is a significant breakthrough in our quest to prevent the transmission of the prion responsible for variant Creutz-feldt-Jakob disease," said Pierre Laurin, president and chief executive officer of Montreal-based ProMetic Life Sciences Inc., which developed the filter with The American Red Cross and partner MacoPharma.

A study published earlier this month in the U.K. medical journal The Lancet showed that variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease, can be passed from person to person through blood transfusions. Because of its long incubation period, people may be harboring the disease without knowing it.

ProMetic teamed up with the American Red Cross to form the Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc. venture in 2002.

In the past decade, there have been 199 cases of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease around the world, including 164 in the U.K. Early symptoms include depression or psychosis, unsteadiness and involuntary movements. By the time of death, patients become immobile and mute.