§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the incidence of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in farmers; [40381]
(2) what recent information he has received from the spongiform encephalopathy advisory committee on the subject of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in dairy farmers. [40380]
§ Mr. SackvilleThe spongiform encephalopathy advisory committees, SEAC, reviewed the reported suspect case of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, CJD, in a farmer who has had a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, in his beef suckler herd. Three previous CJD cases have been confirmed in dairy farmers whose herds had had cases of BSE.
The committee concluded that it was difficult to explain this as simply a chance phenomenon. There is a statistical excess of cases in cattle farmers compared with the general population but the absolute risk, even for cattle farmers, is extremely low at about two cases per million per year. There may be other explanations for such an association besides infection with BSE, and the committee noted that there are no reported cases in other occupational groups such as veterinarians who might be expected to be similarly exposed. They also noted that surveillance of CJD elsewhere in Europe has shown a similar incidence of CJD in farmers, including dairy farmers, in countries with no or very few cases of BSE. They therefore felt that it was important to undertake further epidemiological studies to detect any particular risk factors which might be involved, and reiterated their advice that the UK cases of CJD in cattle farmers and the strain of the agent recovered from them should be studied in detail.
207WThe committee has asked for further work to be done, but has not altered its advice to Government on the precautions necessary to protect either the public health, including farmers, or animal health.