To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what evidence his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) assessed on the incidence of bovine tuberculosis amongst dogs; and whether he plans to make this a notifiable disease. (130539)

TB in dogs is already notifiable. The Tuberculosis (England) Order 2006 introduced a duty to report suspected TB in the carcase of any farmed or pet mammal to the Divisional Veterinary Manager of Animal Health (previously the State Veterinary Service). The Order also made it compulsory to notify the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) if Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) is identified by laboratory examination of samples taken from any mammal (other than a human).

Although TB can affect dogs, the apparent incidence is very low. Until 2006, the VLA typically processed fewer than five samples from dogs each year. Since enactment of the new TB Order in March last year, the number of canine submissions to the VLA has increased and tissue samples from 20 dogs were processed in 2006. Only four cases of confirmed infection of canine TB caused by M. bovis have been recorded by the VLA between 1993 and 2004. There have been no confirmed cases since 2004.

The consensus of veterinary opinion is that dogs are a spill-over host for M. bovis and not an epidemiologically significant source of infection for cattle or other species. Therefore, no research has been conducted in this area.