§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will publish in the Official Report a detailed statement of all matters connected with Service personnel contracting encephalitis; how many these were in the three Services; how many have died or were seriously ill, generally, and after being injected for encephalitis; and any other information concerning the effects on Service personnel of this illness; and what action was taken and with what results to combat the general or more serious effects of this illness.
§ Dr. GilbertInformation about the number of cases of encephalitis, which may take many forms, is not readily available and it would require a disproportionate amount of time and effort to produce statistics. However, it can be said that serious cases arc extremely rare among Service men. The last recorded death which was attributable to encephalitis occurred in 1974. The usual form of treatment is general nursing care followed, where necessary, by physiotherapy and rehabilitation. No preventive injections are given.