- The man being treated in a Dublin hospital for suspected
vCJD, the human form of BSE or "mad cow" disease, is likely to
have contracted the fatal illness by eating contaminated beef in Ireland.
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- The Department of Health confirmed yesterday that the
patient, understood to be in his early twenties, had never had a blood
transfusion or an operation. That means infected meat is the likely source.
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- A Dublin hospital has carried out tests to ascertain
if the man has the deadly disease. If doctors' fears are confirmed, the
impact on Ireland's billion-euro beef industry, which trades on its quality
image, could be considerable. The deadly disease has been found in Irish
herds, but this would be the first indigenous case of vCJD. It is understood
that the man has not lived in Britain, which has been at the centre of
BSE, for an extended period.
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- The case would raise questions about the effectiveness
of measures taken in Ireland to protect against infected beef in the 1990s.
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- Doctors and food experts moved this weekend to play down
possible public fears over the case. Professor William Hall, chairman of
the country's CJD advisory group, said cases of the disease in Ireland
had been predicted and that it was believed there would be 15 at the most.
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- The figures were calculated using BSE prevalence figures
in Britain and Ireland by Imperial College London and Beaumont hospital
in Dublin.
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- Hall said this should reassure the public. "This
is a difficult time and I don't want to sound glib. However, we were expecting
at least one case of vCJD based on calculated estimates," he said.
There has been one previous case of vCJD detected in Ireland, but the woman
in that instance had lived in Britain.
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- The Department of Agriculture is taking steps to reassure
people that Irish beef is safe. The quality of Irish beef has been heavily
promoted since the dramatic collapse of exports because of BSE in 2000.
The department will be anxious to ensure that other countries remain confident
that the country's safety standards are high. Beef exports were last year
worth Euro1.9 billion.
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- The department can rely on the findings of the expected
incidence rates and will be able to point to stringent measures put in
place to control and attempt to eradicate cases of BSE in Irish cattle.
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- However, if the man involved is found to have vCJD, it
will be difficult to pinpoint where or how he contracted it. The disease
has a long incubation time - some doctors believe it may be up to 20 years.
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- As the man is in his early twenties, it is not clear
whether he would have contracted the disease before or after the Department
of Agriculture brought in protective measures. The first controls relating
to BSE were introduced in 1989; they were extended in 1996-97 when the
possible link between BSE and vCJD was first confirmed in the UK.
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- The department issued a statement last night in which
it moved to highlight its controls.
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- "Ireland has operated a comprehensive range of controls
in the cattle and beef sectors in relation to BSE since the confirmation
of the first case in 1989," it said.
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- These include a total ban on the use of meat and bone
meal as farm animal feed, the removal at slaughter of tissues in cattle
and the examination of all cattle before they are killed. BSE infection
is linked to the feeding of cattle with meat and bone meal.
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- The department said the controls in Ireland were constantly
audited by a range of bodies including the European commission and the
Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
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- It added that the annual number of BSE cases in Ireland
was decreasing.
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- "The cases now appearing are consistent with situations
in other member states and have been predicted," it said.
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- In relation to six cases where the cattle infected were
from the period prior to 1996-97, it said there was no basis for suspecting
that they were indicative of either a systematic failure in controls or
a deviation in overall trends in relation to BSE.
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- The Food Safety Authority of Ireland last night said
that since 1996 stringent controls from "farm to fork", right
across the food chain, had been introduced to protect consumers.
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- A spokesman for the Department of Health said Mary Harney,
the minister and tanaiste, had been informed of the suspected case last
Thursday.
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- "She immediately called a meeting with the chief
medical officer and the chairman of the CJD Advisory Board the following
day. She was assured that there were no public health issues regarding
the blood supply arising from the case, as the patient had never donated
blood or received a blood transfusion, and that the cause of the suspected
disease was not linked to an operation," the spokesman said.
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- "She was also assured that every possible safeguard
and preventive measure had been taken in relation to vCJD. The Department
of Health is in constant contact with the hospital authorities."
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- It is understood Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, has been
briefed on the case as has Mary Coughlan, the agriculture minister.
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- "This is most distressing but it was inevitable"
said Dr Mary Upton, a scientist and Labour spokeswoman on food safety and
agriculture. "It is highly distressing for that young man and his
family.
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- "I predicted that we would have more cases of vCJD.
Now we should be putting facilities in place to support people who may
have contracted CJD here in the late 1980s and 1990s. The government should
set up a compensation fund."
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- Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-1325594_2,00.html
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