Epidemiology of human brucellosis in the United Kingdom.

With the virtual elimination of milk-borne tuberculosis, brucellosis is now the most important milk-borne disease in the United Kingdom. Data relating to the mortality and incidence of brucellosis in the British Isles in recent years have previously been published in connexion with accounts of a survey in the Oxford region (Bothwell, 1960a, b, c, d, 1962). Since the disease may soon be the subject of an eradication scheme for cattle brucellosis, a comparison of the epidemiological factors in six series of cases occurring in the United Kingdom is topical. This comparison is based on data from published work on series of human brucellosis cases reported by Smith (1951), Dalrymple-Champneys (1960), and Bothwell (1960a, b); and from unpublished data relating to cases and type of infective organism made available by the courtesy of the Public Health Laboratory Service (two series) and the Health Department of Northern Ireland. The general situation in regard to infection of milking herds is also given.