A second case of variant CJD, the human form of mad cow disease, is believed to have been diagnosed in the North. The married man in his 20s was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast last week where he is said to be in a stable condition.
It is understood that he is from just outside Belfast. Doctors cannot be completely certain that a person has vCJD until after a post-mortem.
Dr Tom Esmond, a consultant neurologist at the RVH, insisted the case did not represent the tip of the iceberg. "As yet, there is no firm indication that we have an explosion of cases in the UK or elsewhere," he said. Although there was no treatment for the condition, Dr Esmond said every effort was being made to monitor instances of the disease.
"Certainly we are very much on the look-out for it because of the emergence of the new variant form of CJD. There are far more cases that are notified to the CJD unit in Edinburgh than actually turn out to be cases of CJD."
The North's first victim of vCJD, Maurice Callaghan, died seven years ago.