A NEW filter designed to reduce the risk of transmitting variant CJD via a blood transfusion has been scrapped by the blood bank after fears were raised by the manufacturer that it might not be working properly.

IRISH victims of the human form of mad cow disease may be entitled to claim millions of euro in compensation from EU institutions.

Fears that a cluster of the debilitating brain disease vCJD had been uncovered on the east coast were today dismissed after an investigation revealed three cases were not linked.

THE father of one of the Irish victims of the human form of mad cow disease yesterday criticised Health Minister Mary Harney for "brushing aside" their plea for compensation for the families involved.

The father of a young man who died from vCJD warned questions must be answered after it emerged two Irish victims lived within a five-mile radius of each other.

WHILE the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has largely recovered from the hepatitis C scandal, it is worrying that only 3% of the population contribute to this most deserving of causes.

Catherine Shanahan

The father of a young man struck down with variant CJD today confirmed he was willing to meet the Health Minister to voice his concerns over the tackling of the horrific disease.

THE man diagnosed with a probable case of variant CJD, gave blood in recent weeks following the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) appeal for blood.

Health Minister Mary Harney has insisted the national blood supply is safe after a suspected vCJD carrier was allowed to donate blood.

Hundreds of blood donors flocked to special donation centres around Ireland today to boost stocks after hospitals were forced to cancel operations.

Special blood donor clinics have been set up around Ireland after a shortage forced a number of hospitals to cancel operations, it was confirmed today.

HOSPITALS have been asked to cancel all pre-planned surgery for the next four to five days due to a severe decline in blood donations.

City life has left people struggling to find the time to donate blood, it was revealed today.

Michael O’Farrell and Harry Walsh

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has been asked to explain how a man became infected with the human form of Mad Cow Disease, despite strict controls.

Claire O'Sullivan

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern moved quickly to quell public fears today after the country’s first case of the fatal brain disease variant CJD was diagnosed in a Dublin hospital.

THE father of a young man suffering from vCJD said he would not hesitate to recommend the earliest possible use of a drug compound that has kept his son alive against all odds and medical advice.

Tests were today being carried out at a Dublin hospital on a man suspected of having the first case of vCJD to originate from within the Republic.

Blood donation restrictions were tightened today after warnings in Britain that vCJD can be transmitted through transfusions.

Irish haemophiliacs have been told that they are not at risk of contracting the human form of mad cows disease from blood products here.

Thousands of patients in the UK were warned today they may have been exposed to vCJD through blood plasma products.

ANOTHER case of a possible transmission of the human form of BSE through a blood transfusion in Britain may result in the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board (IBTS) taking further stringent measures to minimise any infection risk.

STRICT rules to reduce the risk of contracting the human form of mad cow disease through blood transfusion were introduced yesterday by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS).

For the good of the community at large, it is vital that the public responds to the appeal for eligible blood donors after new criteria were announced yesterday by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS).

Ireland’s National CJD Advisory Group is due to meet today to discuss the fallout from the death of a British man who contracted CJD from blood donated years earlier.

THE Minister for Health has asked senior health officials to report on the alarming discovery in Britain that variant CJD can be transmitted through donated blood.

DON SIMMS does not want to be seen as a crusader. But there are those from Taiwan to the United States who may disagree.

THE risk of Irish people contracting the human form of mad cow disease is declining, according to the Blood Bank.

A MAJOR study to reveal the rate of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) infection through consumption of BSE-infected meat has been commissioned by the Blood Bank.

A haemophilia centre in the North has revealed that a "very small number" of haemophiliacs may have been given blood products from a donor who developed variant CJD, the human form of BSE.

The risk of the human form of BSE - mad cow disease - being transmitted through blood transfusions may be considerably higher than previously thought, it emerged today.

People living in the north of England and Scotland are more than twice as likely to get variant CJD, the human form of mad cow disease, a leading scientist said today.

The British meat industry was today under fire after senior Government scientists complained that manufacturers were stalling BSE research.

Mad cow disease has claimed its 100th victim in Britain.

The lives of five victims of the human form of mad cow disease barely crossed, but all had one macabre link - the picturesque village of Queniborough in Leicestershire.

Evidence that contaminated meat is to blame for the human form of mad cow disease is expected to be revealed in England later today.