§ Mr. Brewisasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the percentage of herds afflicted with brucellosis in Scotland; and what is the average number of reactors per herd.
§ Mr. RossBrucellosis is not a notifiable disease and complete statistics are not available. A sample survey of brucellosis in dairy cattle in Great Britain for the year ended 30th September 1961, indicates that infection may exist in about 23 per cent. of dairy herds in North Scotland and in about 17 per cent. of dairy herds in South Scotland. The real incidence of infection amongst dairy cows in Scotland is estimated to be on average between 1 per cent. and 2 per cent. per infected herd, but the number of animals that would react to diagnostic tests would be much greater than that.