HEALTH

Worldwide Recall of Drug Begins: Baxter International Inc., the hospital supply company, began the recall after an autopsy showed a blood donor had a rare fatal disease. Only the lots of the blood product albumin that might have involved that donor have been withdrawn, Baxter spokeswoman Jill Carter said. The drug, sold under the name Buminate 25% Albumen, is used after surgery or for patients who have lost a substantial amount of blood and are suffering from shock, Carter said. The autopsy of a male donor who died recently showed he had Creutzfelt-Jakob disease, caused by a virus that attacks the central nervous system and leads to dementia, wasting of muscles and eventual death. “There is no blood test for this disease, and we couldn’t have known about it beforehand,” Carter said.