THE HSE HAS undertaken a review to determine what, if any, risk may exist for patients following the diagnosis of a case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in Beaumont Hospital.

It emerged last night that up to 20 people are at risk following the use of contaminated surgical instruments.

The review into the case has identified between 10 and 20 patients “who may have a slightly higher risk of contracting CJD than people in the general population”.

An exact figure of the number of patients will not be made public in order to protect patient confidentiality.

The HSE noted that CJD is a rare disease that occurs naturally in a very small number of people worldwide. It affects around one in a million people in Ireland every year.

Contact

The HSE said that all patients involved, or their family members, will be contacted today:

to explain that that they have a slightly increased risk of getting CJD and to inform them of the precautions that they need to take to prevent any further transmission of the disease in the unlikely event that they have been infected.

All patients will be contacted by their clinicians and Beaumont Hospital will be providing support and on-going monitoring for these individuals into the future.

Beaumont Hospital is receiving advice from the Irish Panel on TSE (CJD) and from world experts in the UK.

The hospital “recognises that this is a difficult time for a number of patients and their families. The hospital is conscious of respecting the privacy and confidentiality of those concerned.”

Timeline

• A patient who had undergone surgery in Beaumont within the last four weeks was subsequently diagnosed with CJD.

• This diagnosis was not expected by the treating clinicians and was discovered post-surgery as part of routine laboratory examination of tissue.

• As soon as the possible CJD diagnosis was made the equipment used on the patient in question was quarantined and a review commenced to determine what, if any, risk may exist for other patients.

“There is no on-going risk in Beaumont Hospital arising from this issue,” said the HSE statement.

A helpline has also been set up for anybody with concerns about the issue.

Read: Up to 20 people at risk from CJD contamination fears>

Explainer: What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?