§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the(a) cause and (b) source of the recent brucellosis outbreak in South East Cornwall. [166444]
§ Mr Bradshaw[holding answer 19 April 2004]: A specialist epidemiological team has been set up to look into the source of the outbreak. The team, led by 1192W veterinary epidemiologist Professor John Wilesmith, includes specialists in surveillance and epidemiology from both the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and DEFRA.
The group is liaising closely with the State Veterinary Service and looking at the brucellosis testing history of the infected herd, the relationship between cows, bulls and youngstock, cattle movements on and off over the past two years, any known unrecorded cattle movements, the herd's breeding programme, any unusual mixing of livestock and imports into Devon and Cornwall over the past three years.
Field investigations and epidemiological analyses of available data are concentrated on two main hypotheses:
(i) the introduction of infection via an imported animal from a known infected country, or an as yet unknown infected country; or(ii) the recrudescence of infection either from animals in the infected herd or from other GB herds.Epidemiological investigations are progressing well; however the cause and source of the infection remain unknown at this stage.