To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps are being taken to combat the bile fluke Pseudamphistomum truncatum; what information he has received from the veterinary community regarding the fluke; how many dead otters have been recorded as having the fluke; which species of fish are being examined to see if they are carriers of the fluke; which regions of the Environment Agency have recorded cases of the fluke; how many mink have been examined to see if they have the fluke; and what funding has been allocated for such autopsies; (103867)

Otter post mortems are performed as part of an otter health monitoring programme, undertaken by the Environment Agency, in order to monitor the spread of the fluke. This project examines all aspects of otter health, including environmental contaminants. This information is used to direct the conservation measures needed to safeguard the animals in England and Wales. The post-mortem examinations are funded as a component of otter health surveillance work undertaken by the Environment Agency. In addition carcases can be submitted to the Disease of Wildlife Surveillance project undertaken by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.

The Environment Agency also examines the health of fish prior to their movement in England and Wales. Approximately 400 such samples are examined at Environment Agency laboratories each year. The fluke has not been recorded in any fish examined to date. This routine health screening will continue, however no special measures are proposed in relation to this particular fluke.

Mink are examined through a number of programs including the national wildlife surveillance program operated by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and also by the Central Science Laboratory as a component of mink control operations. The Environment Agency has looked at a small number of mink, and will continue to examine mink for the presence of the bile fluke as they are submitted as part of other monitoring programmes.

In 2005-06, the Environment Agency spent £27,000 carrying out post mortems on otters. This is an ongoing monitoring programme and all otters submitted to the Environment Agency will be examined for the presence of the bile fluke.

The contractor undertaking this work has published findings up to the year 2004 in veterinary and scientific journals, wildlife magazines, newspapers and has given presentations at several conferences. He submits annual reports to the Environment Agency.

Since April 2005, 18 otters have been identified as being infected with the fluke from a total of 145 animals examined. The fluke has been found in the south west, primarily Somerset and Dorset and more recently in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. Since November 2005, 17 mink have been examined for the fluke with four cases confirmed as being infected.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what inquiries are being made into the implications of the spread of the bile fluke Pseudamphistomum truncatum; what warnings he has issued to the veterinary profession about the possibility of infection from the fluke; and what information he has received from other European countries which have dealt with the spread of the fluke. (103869)

The Human Animal, Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group which includes representatives from the Health Protection Agency, the Department of Health, DEFRA, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the devolved Administrations, conducted a risk assessment for the zoonotic potential of this parasite in July 2005. They concluded that the possibility of pathogenicity to humans cannot be excluded but human exposure has not yet been identified. The fluke may only be transmitted to humans through the consumption of raw infected fish from rivers. However, the species which harbour this parasite in endemic countries are unlikely to be consumed by humans. There is no record of Pseudamphistomum truncatum in any fish species in the UK despite regular parasite examination of wild fish populations.

The veterinary pathologist who reported the disease in the UK, and is conducting the long-term health monitoring programs for otters, published a letter in the Veterinary Record in January 2006 which informed veterinarians of the potential risk to cats and dogs which feed on raw fish products.

The fluke is widespread in Eastern Europe and Russia and has been reported in otters and foxes in Germany and France and in mink in Spain. Low numbers of human cases have been reported in Russia and these are associated with consumption of raw fish. Cases in cats and dogs have occurred in the aforementioned countries and in Italy. The pathogencity of the disease is not fully understood but the health of all species including humans only seems to be compromised following severe infections of a chronic nature.