If vCJD is confirmed in this case, infected meat is the likely cause, writes Dr Muiris Houston.
vCJD is linked to the consumption of meat infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow disease. The infectious agent in both diseases is a rogue protein known as a prion.
The Republic has the second-highest incidence of BSE in the world after Britain.
The only case of vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) diagnosed in the Republic up to now involved a woman who had lived for a long time in Britain.
However, it is understood the patient currently being treated in hospital in Dublin for suspected vCJD never lived in Britain. If the diagnosis is confirmed, it is likely this will become the first case to be linked to the consumption of infected meat in the State.
Last year researchers from Beaumont Hospital and the Imperial College, London, used statistical modelling to calculate how many cases of vCJD were likely to appear here in the future.
By using a model based on the annual number of cases of vCJD seen in Britain and the relative population sizes of the UK and the Republic, the scientists calculated there was likely to be just one further case of vCJD here, with an upper limit of 15 cases possible.
However, this risk analysis was based on beef-eating only and did not include those who could contract vCJD from surgical equipment or blood products. Two cases of the disease linked to blood transfusion have been reported in Britain in the last year.
This led the Irish Blood Transfusion Service to introduce tighter restrictions on the acceptance of donations from Irish people who have lived in Britain.
Now that the health authorities in Dublin have confirmed that the patient being treated in hospital for suspected vCJD has never had a blood transfusion and never undergone a surgical operation, the implications for the health service here are much less serious than might otherwise have been the case.
And the fact that he has never given a blood donation means that any possible knock-on effect for public health is negligible.
Just under 150 cases of vCJD have been linked to the consumption of infected beef in Britain.