Brucella canis cases among humans in the UK during 2023 up until 04.12.2023

Dear UKHSA,

1. How many cases of human brucellosis, derived from Canine Brucellosis,
have been diagnosed in a UK-based citizen (any age) in each of the
following
years:
- 2023 (include the date up to 04.08.2023)

1.a. Please indicate how many of these cases involved. i. Children under
the age of 5 years, ii. Pregnant women, iii. immunocompromised people, iv. veterinary professionals or other people working within a veterinary practice, iiv. laboratory workers working with human and / or animal bodily tissues/samples/fluids.

2. Of these, how many were diagnosed because they:
i. Had clinical signs (+/- known exposure to a Brucella canis positive dog)?
ii. Were detected on screening due to known exposure to a Brucella canis positive (antibodies, antigen, PCR, culture) dog?

2. How many of these human cases required pharmaceutical treatment due to clinical signs? (please split by categories shown in 1.a.)

3. How many of the human cases that did NOT have clinical signs were given pharmaceutical treatment? (please split by categories shown in 1.a.).

3. How many of these human cases required inpatient/hospitalisation as
part of the treatment?

4. How many of these cases resulted in the death of the individual?

5. How many of these cases resulted in the death of an unborn child?

Your sincerely,

Dr Buckley

Dear UK Health Security Agency,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of UK Health Security Agency's handling of my FOI request 'Brucella canis cases among humans in the UK during 2023 up until 04.12.2023'.

I am aware from previous FOI requests that you do hold at least some of the information requested (reading between the lines probably all of the requested information from piecing together previous communications) and have not made a case for why this information is no-longer held by yourselves.
Please see: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/9...
and
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/9...
and
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1...
You state:
"UKHSA can confirm that this data is not currently held due to complexities. We do
not classify the cases; Brucellosis cases are reported in our Zoonoses HPR,
however, they are not broken down by species. The HAIRS Brucella Canis risk
assessment reported two laboratory-confirmed cases (as of July 2023). "
but previously you were able to tell me that there were less than 5 cases of Brucella canis in the UK when I requested this information of you.

In addition you state:
"We do not hold the information on demographics, symptoms, treatment,
hospitalisation, death etc. Furthermore, we do not keep a log of
possible/probable/confirmed cases, because of the significant increase in queries,
and the numbers of reactive/possible results. "

But then state:

"There has been a substantial change in the incidence of PCR reactivity over the last
few months. Based on the provisional case definitions, these would all be counted as
“laboratory confirmed cases,” since they are positive on two molecular targets. "

The second statement would imply that you have the information necessary to answer my request, though you may need to break this down by possible/probable/confirmed cases. As you are reporting that there is a substantial change in the incidence of PCR reactivity, this might imply that there have now been more than five cases and that you are therefore in a position to provide additional detail so far declined.

I look forward to a successful appeal, and thank you for your time and willingness to assist with this public good request that will be shared with fellow veterinary professionals and members of the public to further inform evidence based practice.

Yours faithfully,

Louise Buckley PhD RVN

PS. A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/b...

Dear Information Rights,

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Buckley