Irish haemophiliacs have been told that there is little risk of them contracting the human form of "mad cow disease" from blood products here.
The Natinoal Haemophilia Council (NHC) and the National Centre for Hereditary Coagulation Disorders (NCHCD) moved to allay the fears of Irish sufferers after thousands of British patients were warned today they may have been exposed to vCJD through blood plasma products.
The British department of health said more than 6,000 people would receive letters explaining the situation and to help minimise the possibility of passing on the brain-wasting disease.
But at a press conference in Dublin this afternoon, NCHCD Medical Director, Dr Barry White, said that no implicated batches of blood products were imported into Ireland.
"However, the National Centre has made arrangements to quickly see any person with haemophilia who has used product in the UK or who has concerns in relation to this development," he added. Those who received treatment in the UK between 1980 and 2001 could be at risk.
Information meetings for people with haemophilia and their families have been arranged in Cork on September 24th and in Dublin on September 25th.
The IBTS said it will also impose a stricter regulations on donations from people who have lived in Britain in order to protect against the possible transmission of vCJD.
From November, people who lived in Britain for more than one year between 1980 and 1996 cannot give blood.
To date there have been 147 cases of CJD in the UK. These cases have been linked to the consumption of BSE-infected beef from cattle. But it is now known that fifteen of those who have died of CJD were blood donors and their donations were linked to the two cases of CJD, which are thought to have been transmitted by blood transfusion.