HC Deb 12 April 2002 vol 383 c664W
Dr. Evan Harris

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost in the last 12 months of treating infants suffering from RSV infection in terms of(a) hospital stays and (b) intensive care unit stays. [41474]

Yvette Cooper

Most children who contract Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) do so by the age of three. In the latest year for which figures are available, 2000–01, there were 182 admissions to NHS hospitals in England for respiratory diseases, with a subsidiary classification of RSV, for children under 4 years. Costs associated with admission vary significantly with severe cases requiring paediatric intensive care, assisted ventilation and specialised interventions. Information on the cost of these admissions is not collected centrally.

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