The Taoiseach has told the Dáil there should be no public concern over the consumption of Irish beef, despite tests confirming a young man as suffering from the fatal brain disease variant CJD in a Dublin hospital.
The Irish Timeslearned last night that a biopsy of one of the patient's tonsils has shown the presence of prion, the rogue protein known to cause both vCJD in humans and BSE in cattle. The test results mean the Republic has now recorded its first case of indigenous vCJD.
Late last month a Dublin hospital said it was treating a man in his early 20s with suspected vCJD. Last night it said: "The result of a further test carried out on the young man suspected of having vCJD makes it most unlikely that the diagnosis pertaining to this patient is anything other than vCJD".
While there is no definitive blood test to diagnose vCJD, the presence of prion in immune system tissue in the tonsils, coupled with a characteristic appearance of the brain on MRI scan, has put the diagnosis beyond doubt.
Given that the patient has never had surgery or has never given or received blood, medical sources said it was almost certain the man had contracted the disease from eating infected beef. However, they rated the likelihood of the case having consequences for public health as negligible.
The Minister for Health and the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said in a statement her "thoughts and prayers are with the patient himself, his family and friends who are attempting to cope with this difficult situation".
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, the Taoiseach said National CJD Advisory Committee and the Deparment of Agriculture would be monitoring developments on the case.
"Of course we in this country thankfully have introduced controls prior to all the other EU controls and the Department of Agriculture have made sure that these procedures are in place," he said.
"Both the CJD advisory group and the FSAI have inidcated that there should not be a need for public concern for the safety of Irish beef.
"In particular the FSAI said it was confident that based on the current controls the consumers of Irish beef were not exposed to BSE infected agent."
Mr Ahern added that you can "never be too careful".
"No doubt people will be looking back over this case very carefully becuase vCJD as we know is extremely difficult to trace."