A Dublin hospital is awaiting the results of tests in what is first suspected case of vCJD to emanate from within the State. The patient is understood to be a man in his early 20s who is very seriously ill.
A spokesperson for the hospital where he is being treated said last night: "There is a potential case of vCJD currently being investigated."
The spokesperson said that in the interests of the patient and the family, no other details, including the name of the hospital, would be released. A report in today's Irish Timessaid the man's medical background is now being traced to establish whether or not he was a blood donor, or whether he may have received a blood transfusion in an operation.
Transfusion experts believe there is a potential for vCJD to be transmitted through blood and blood products. However, contaminated beef was the cause of most confirmed cases of the disease in the UK. Only one person, a woman who had lived for a lengthy period in the UK, has been diagnosed in the Republic with vCJD, the human form of mad-cow disease.
It is understood the man at the centre of the investigation had not resided in the United Kingdom. If the diagnosis is confirmed, it is believed he would be the first indigenous case of vCJD in the Republic.