The decision by British health authorities to use disposable surgical instruments during tonsillectomies has again focused attention on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human version of BSE.
Both conditions are linked to the presence of an abnormal version of a prion protein in the central nervous system. Doctors suspect vCJD is triggered by the ingestion of rogue protein from BSE-infected meat.
However, there is a theoretical risk of transmission by other means.
The British authorities had already banned the use of trial contact lenses used when a patient is fitted with new contacts because of the theoretical risk of transmitting vCJD.
Their latest decision, with regard to operative instruments used by surgeons to remove tonsils, reflects a growing concern that there may be a population of young people in the UK with sub-clinical vCJD. In other words, there may be a reservoir of rogue protein in the tonsil tissue of an age group which frequently undergoes tonsillectomy.
Ironically, it is a test of tonsil tissue which is showing the most promise in the search for a means to detect BSE at an earlier stage. However, if the estimation of risk is such that tonsillectomy instruments must be disposed of after use, surely the same logic should apply to surgical instruments used in brain, spinal-cord and eye surgery?
This point is made by Dr Michael Farrell, consultant neuropathologist at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, and a member of the National CJD Surveillance Committee.
"You have to draw the line somewhere. The risk of transmission is absolutely infinitesimal. We have had only one case of CJD in the State, which is a very different situation to Britain," he said.
Dr Farrell feels that a cost/benefit analysis will show that similar action will not be required in the Republic.
"The committee will be watching this situation closely and will meet next week to discuss the risk of [variant] CJD transmission by surgical instruments."
The National Surveillance Committee did not take any action following the contact-lens decision, and it seems unlikely that it will recommend a policy change in this instance either.
Some doctors and scientists feel the infinitesimal risk associated with vCJD transmission in the Republic needs to be explained in more detail.
Following the recent polio vaccine scare, there was a temporary drop in immunisation rates, despite assurances of zero risk given by international experts.
Compared to the very real risks of smoking, excessive alcohol intake and poor exercise levels in causing heart disease, perhaps we need an education campaign to explain the tiny relative risk of contracting vCJD in the Republic.