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Written question asked by Countess of Mar (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Warner (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 November 2006.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Question
How many cases of bovine tuberculosis have occurred in humans in the United Kingdom for each year since 1995; what were the age groups of those infected; how many of the cases were attributed to drinking raw milk from cows infected with bovine tuberculosis from farms in the United Kingdom; in how many cases the disease was believed to have been acquired from sources outside the United Kingdom; and what has been the outcome of treatment.
Answer

The number of cases of bovine tuberculosis which have occurred in humans in the United Kingdom for each year since 1995:

UK
1995 32
1996 37
1997 46
1998 40
1999 41
2000 29
2001 33
2002 19
2003 21
2004 21
2005 39

Age groups of those infected:

0-14 15-44 45-64 65+ N/K Total
1995 0 3 7 19 3 32
1996 0 2 11 20 4 37
1997 2 8 8 28 0 46
1998 0 7 10 21 2 40
1999 0 8 16 17 0 41
2000 0 7 10 11 1 29
2001 0 5 8 20 0 33
2002 0 3 3 15 1 19
2003 1 2 6 12 0 21
2004 0 8 3 9 1 21
2005 0 12 10 17 0 39

Three-quarters of the cases reported between 1994 and 2004 involved individuals aged 50 years and above. This suggests that a majority of the cases are attributable to re-activation of latent infection, possibly acquired prior to implementation of controls such as milk pasteurisation and tuberculin screening of cattle. Information on non-UK sources of infection is not available. For the majority of cases, information on the outcome of treatment is not held centrally.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
7890; 686 c104-5WA
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Age Milk Bovine tuberculosis
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk