§ Mr. FREEMANasked the Minister of Agriculture how many inoculations against distemper in dogs have been made from the beginning of the practice up till the present time; what has been the preventive effect of the inoculations; and what percentage of the dogs inoculated have died as the result of inoculation?
§ Mr. CHARLETONI have been asked to reply on behalf of the Lord President of the Council. The hon. Member's question presumably refers to the method of preventive inoculation introduced as a result of researches promoted by the "Field" Distemper Council. As the preparations are issued by a commercial firm to veterinary practitioners throughout the country, no complete statistics of the results are obtainable. Inquiry was recently made, however, into the histories of some hundreds of foxhounds inoculated in 1928 and 1929. Taking only the 23 packs in which subsequent exposure to infection was certain, the incidence of distemper among inoculated hounds was found to be 1.4 per cent. and the death rate from this cause 0.3 per cent. Without inoculation, the incidence of dis-642W temper among young foxhounds in this country approaches 100 per cent., while the death rate is frequently 50 per cent. and may exceed 75 per cent. on occasion.