Vol. 395 No. 6
123 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason his Department and the Department of Health have advised pregnant women to avoid close contact with sheep at lambing time; if he will outline the nature of zoonotic infections concerned; when this problem became apparent; the way in which it was discovered; and the number of incidents which have been reported.
The possible risk to pregnant women of zoonotic infection arising from close contact with sheep at lambing time is known to medical and veterinary professions for some time. Due to the rapid expansion of the national sheep flock in recent years, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health, considered it appropriate as an extra precaution that the general public, in particular the farming community, would be made aware of the possible risks.
The most commonly diagnosed causes of abortion in sheep in Ireland are toxoplasmosis and listeriosis which can cause abortion in humans. I am not, however, aware of any recent case of abortion in this country which could be directly attributed to infection in sheep.
