The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) is this week carrying out a survey to determine how many of its donors have travelled to the UK and certain other European countries where BSE and variant CJD have been found.
A similar survey was carried out in 1999 and found that 13 per cent of donors had visited the UK and Europe between 1980 and 1996.
A spokeswoman for the service told ireland.com no case as yet has been discovered anywhere in the world whereby a person who ate BSE infected beef then passed that infection on through donating blood. She said that any risk of contracting BSE through blood donations is still theoretical.
The IBTS will decide next month if it will be necessary to reject donations of blood from those who spent time in Britain and Europe between 1980 and 1996.
