Sheep Disease (Hansard, 28 April 1994)

§ Dr. Strang
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is her Department's assessment of the periods for which caseous lymphadenitis can persist in the environment; and what is the risk to other animals or people.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
The organism which causes caseous lymphadenitis can be introduced to the environment only by the discharge from ruptured abscesses in heavily infected animals and it would be rare for animals to reach that stage of infection without action being taken. The organism can survive for up to eight weeks on surfaces out of the sunlight and for up to eight months in soil under appropriate conditions. Infection is spread through contact with skin abrasions so animals rubbing against contaminated surfaces could pick up the disease but there is very little risk that people could contract caseous lymphadenitis from environmental contamination.

§ Dr. Strang
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how infectious to people in close contact with the disease, particularly abattoir workers, is caseous lymphadenitis; and how many cases of human infection have been reported in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Gillian Shephard
People in close contact with caseous lymphadenitis can become infected with the disease if the pus discharged from abscesses is able to enter the body through skin abrasions and care should be taken when handling diseased animals. However, such cases are extremely rare. We are not aware of any reported cases in the United Kingdom and only 13 in the rest of the world since records have been kept.

§ Dr. Strang
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment she has made of the economic damage to the sheep industry which can be caused by caseous lymphadenitis.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
The economic effect of any animal disease depends both on the nature of the disease and the extent of the outbreak. There is no evidence that caseous lymphadenitis is a serious problem or causes significant economic damage to the United Kingdom sheep industry. In Australia where the disease is endemic significant economic losses result from the loss in the animal's value from reduced production or rejection of infected meat at the abattoir.