§ 2.47 p.m.
§ Baroness MASHAM of ILTONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether infective hepatitis is on the increase and what steps are being taken to safeguard the public from food such as infected mussels.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, the annual number of notified cases in England and Wales fell from 23,580 in 1969 to 5,104 in 1977. In the recent outbreak of viral hepatitis associated with mussels, investigations by the local authorities concerned, assisted by officers of the Health Departments and of the Communicable Diseases Surveillance Centre for England and Wales, pointed to mussels from a single processing plant as the probable source of infection. Action is in hand to ensure that suitable pre-cautions are taken against further infection when processing is resumed next season. Further, the Departments concerned are considering whether general guidance could usefully be issued to local authorities about measures to reduce the risk of all kinds of food poisoning associated with shellfish.
§ Baroness MASHAM of ILTONMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his interesting reply, may I ask him what happens in the case of children going back to school whose parents have infective hepatitis? Should they be given gamma globulin and should they be kept away from school? Is the noble Lord aware that my godson was kept away from school for three weeks when he was about to take his "O" levels?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, my information on this particular point is that the risk of infection is small and exclusion is not considered necessary. In the pamphlet which was issued by my Department and the Welsh Office after consultation with the Department of Education and Science—and if the noble Baroness has not seen it, I should be very happy to let her have a copy—the matter of hepatitis is dealt with and it is said that there is no need for exclusion of any kind. Since seeing this pamphlet I have made further inquiries. I find that the recognised world authority on this is Dr. Abram Benenson. In his book, Control of Communicable Diseases in Man, he states that there is no need whatever for quarantine.
§ Lord SHINWELLMy Lords, can my noble friend assure us that members of the aristocracy do not eat mussels? Is this not a monopoly of the working classes?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I think that it would be reasonable to say that that might well be considered to be another question.
§ Lord SANDYSMy Lords, can the Government tell us what arrangement they have made for the destruction of infected consignments?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, your Lordships will know that every district council is responsible, through the health officers, for hygiene and the control of the environment. They have been very active in this matter in the sense that they have been able to give certain advice. My Department is considering this at this present moment. I have seen a draft of a letter which, if I may say so, was prepared before the noble Baroness put down the Question, and which we are 1221 proposing to send round to local authorities, indicating the kind of prevention measures they can take in the future.
§ Baroness ELLIOT of HARWOODMy Lords, as someone who does not eat mussels and who dislikes them heartily—I say so to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Shinwell—may I ask whether, as this has been a really serious outbreak in Yorkshire, the Government are tracing the origins of the outbreak, and seeing whether or not it is possible to prevent the purchase of mussels from whatever source they came, which provided a considerable number of cases of hepatitis in North Yorkshire?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I want to say this, that I think that the people locally owe a very great debt of gratitude to the senior medical officer of the food hygiene branch at Leeds, who, immediately he became aware of what was happening, wrote immediately to some eight or nine other local authorities, drawing attention to what was happening in his own city, and saying that, in view of the inquiries he made, their cities might also be affected. In point of fact, I think that has gone a long way towards containing this outbreak.
The Earl of HALSBURYMy Lords, on the assumption that the human hepatitis is caused by mussels, has the noble Lord any information as to where the mussels get it from? Do we return it to them in a rather simple, close cycle of the food chain in our sewage, or is it a more complex matter? Has the noble Lord any information on the point?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I do not think I can give the noble Earl a satisfactory answer to that, except to say it is suspected that they came from Anglesey.