asked the Minister for Health the number of people suffering from brucellosis in Ireland at the latest available date.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Brucellosis Sufferers.
17.
The number of cases notified to my Department in recent years is as follows: 1968, 105; 1969, 49; 1970, 40; 1971, 77; 1972 (to 18th Nov.), 76.
However, as I stated in my reply of 17th June, 1971, to a question on the subject, it is generally accepted that the disease is more prevalent in humans than these figures indicate; it is a difficult disease to diagnose and some cases may not come to notice. Furthermore, a feature of the disease is that it is recurrent in many cases and that the duration of illness may vary from a few weeks in one case to a number of years in another case. Accordingly the Deputy will appreciate that it is not feasible to state with any degree of accuracy the number of people actually suffering from the disease on any given date.