§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many cases of MRSA have been recorded in the Royal Gwent hospital in each of the last five years broken down by age bands of 10 years; and if he will make a statement; [2899]
(2) how many (a) cases and (b) deaths from MRSA have been recorded in Wales in each of the last five years broken down in each case by age bands of 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [2888]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThere were two, two and 53 cases of MRSA recorded by the Royal Gwent laboratory in 1994, 1995 and 1996—up to 22 July—respectively. No breakdown of these data by age band is available centrally. Information relating to Wales is given in the following table.
Laboratory confirmed cases of MRSA in Wales Age group 1994 1995 19961 Under 1 2 3 8 1 to 4 1 3 7 5 to 14 — 3 10 15 to 24 16 13 51 25 to 34 17 24 88 35 to 44 21 17 85 45 to 54 23 29 99 55 to 64 26 33 157 65 and over 251 270 1,265 Not known 184 47 330 Total 541 442 2,100 Source:
CDSC Welsh unit MRSA surveillance programme in Wales.
Notes:
Completeness of reporting by laboratories is variable. Increased emphasis was placed on reporting in 1996 and additional features requested. Data may include some GP referrals. The numbers 210W indicated are patients identified with MRSA, only a proportion of these will have clinical illness—estimated at 50 per cent.—due to MRSA infection, the remainders will be carriers of the organism. 1To 4 November.Figures for the number of deaths are not currently available. Work being undertaken by the Office for National Statistics may provide some data in due course.