§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the most recent research available to him on the possibility of vertical transmission of BSE.
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Country/Region January (4 January to 31 January) February (1 February to 28 February) March (29 February to 27 March) April (28 March to 1 May) May (2 May to 29 May) England Avon 49 37 55 63 46 Bedfordshire 6 3 2 13 8 Berkshire 16 13 5 20 10 Buckinghamshire 18 24 18 28 23 Cambridgeshire 7 14 4 8 10 Cheshire 82 76 48 101 176 Cleveland 5 1 4 3 4 Cornwall 167 190 172 212 258 Cumbria 91 84 53 103 103 Derbyshire 71 67 60 60 109 Devon 177 277 227 267 343 Dorset 176 180 174 198 164 Durham 9 10 12 4 19 Essex 6 8 14 24 6 Gloucestershire 52 38 42 56 49 Hampshire 57 60 31 78 42 Hereford and Worcestershire 31 26 40 57 56 Hertfordshire 5 4 4 9 5 Humberside 7 10 12 3 15 Isle of Wight 13 8 8 16 11 Kent 45 33 15 37 38 Lancashire 70 89 68 120 103 Leicestershire 64 45 43 35 58 Lincolnshire 13 15 13 22 11 London 2 2 1 2 3 Manchester 3 6 3 4 0 Merseyside 3 3 4 5 2 Norfolk 73 64 21 81 75 Northamptonshire 28 26 10 30 24 Northumberland 7 11 11 21 34 Nottinghamshire 12 21 7 10 24 Oxfordshire 55 52 24 45 42 Shropshire 48 40 70 65 81 Somerset 232 250 213 251 209 Staffordshire1 37 64 58 100 95 Suffolk 32 32 11 34 27 Surrey 19 27 14 29 22 Sussex East 37 35 18 43 24 Sussex West 66 57 36 74 52 Tyne and Wear 2 0 1 0 1 Warwickshire 19 20 18 23 30 West Midlands 1 0 4 0 3 Wiltshire 117 111 121 142 104 Yorkshire North 95 97 103 96 152 Yorkshire South 4 6 11 10 6 Yorkshire West 12 10 18 11 24 Wales: Clwyd 28 34 26 68 52 Dyfed 140 148 126 151 199
§ Mr. GummerA formal study comparing the incidence of BSE in over 300 offspring of confirmed BSE cases with an equal number of controls has not yet produced any results. All the evidence continues to suggest that feed is the mechanism of infection.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) of 11 May,Official Report, columns 29–30, if he will list the number of confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in each county, in each month from January to May.
§ Mr. GummerThe number of cases confirmed for England, Wales and Scotland for the periods requested is as follows. Many of these cases will have a date of clinical onset of disease and date of report before 4 January (18 January for Northern Ireland).
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Country/Region January (4 January to 31 January) February (1 February to 28 February) March (29 February to 27 March) April (28 March to 1 May) May (2 May to 29 May) Glamorgan Mid 7 2> 1 5 2 Glamorgan South 10 7 11 9 11 Glamorgan West 2 0 1 2 2 Gwent 15 16 21 27 21 Gwynedd 7 6 7 14 14 Powys 27 20 23 34 59 Scotland: Borders 11 8 5 6 10 Central 4 4 1 1 1 Dumfries 67 40 36 26 22 Fife 3 4 6 4 5 Grampian 15 14 14 26 14 Highland 4 2 6 5 4 Lothian 6 0 2 4 7 Orkney 0 3 0 2 2 Shetland 0 0 0 2 0 Strathclyde 41 34 21 22 25 Tayside 3 11 4 7 6 Western Isles 0 0 0 0 0 (18–31 January) Northern Ireland: Antrim 1 11 9 12 8 Armagh 0 1 2 2 0 Down 1 6 3 5 1 Fermanagh 0 0 3 2 2 Londonderry 1 4 4 3 3 Tyrone 2 4 6 4 3 1 The total number of cases in Staffordshire given in the earlier reply for the period 3 January to 1 May 1992 should have read 259 not 482.