§ MAJOR ANSTRUTHER-GRAY (St. Andrews Burghs)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the prevalence of a disease, diagnosed as akin to diphtheria, in wood pigeons, cats, and other birds and animals; whether in view of the large quantities of diseased wood pigeons discovered in several counties during the last winter, he will cause a full and searching inquiry to be made as to whether this disease is dangerous to man; and, if so, what steps should be taken to cope with it.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) My attention has been called to the existence of this disease, and I have already caused a pigeon suffering from it to be examined at the Lister Institute. It was found that the disease in it was not due to the same organism or microbe as human diphtheria, nor to the organism which caused a rather similar outbreak in pigeons in 1907, which was investigated by the Local Government Board at the time. The nature of the organism causing the recent outbreak is still being investigated, but there is some difficulty in continuing the investigation, as the disease has apparently now died out. I am advised that, so far as can be gathered, there is no evidence that the disease is dangerous to man.