§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, for the last year for which figures are available, how many people received hospital treatment as a result of attack by dogs and how many people died as a result of such attacks; and how many people received 379W hospital treatment for dog-borne diseases, particularly toxocara canis, as a result of contact with dogs or dog excrement.
§ Mr. MoyleInformation is not available about the number of people who received hospital treatment as a result of attack by dogs, but in 1976 two persons died in England and Wales following dog bites and two died after being knocked down by dogs.
As regards dog-borne diseases contracted in this country, out-patient figures are not available but the following numbers of spells of treatment were recorded in a 10 per cent. sample of in-patients in NHS hospitals in England and Wales:
1974 1975 Toxocara canis 1 2 Hydatidosis 12 9 It is not known, however, whether or not a dog was the source of the disease in the case of hydatidosis.
The following numbers of cases were reported to the Public Health Laboratory Service in 1977:
Toxocara canis 5 (4 children and 1 adult) Hydatidosis 16