§ 4. Mr. Brewisasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of brucellosis infection in humans have been reported in the last year.
Mr. MilanBrucellosis is not a notifiable disease and comprehensive figures of its incidence among humans are not available. What can be said is that 73 persons in whom brucellosis had been diagnosed were discharged from Scottish hospitals during 1967, and that 188 cases giving presumptive evidence of the disease were diagnosed by Scottish laboratories in the last eleven months of that year.
§ Mr. BrewisWhy can this miserable disease not be made notifiable so that there is some chance of detecting the source of the infection?
§ Mr. MillanOne of the difficulties about notification is the considerable time which elapses between infection and diagnosis. It is therefore doubtful whether compulsory notification would enable us to bring about what both the hon. Member and I would like to bring about, the eradication of the disease.