HC Deb 18 July 1969 vol 787 cc224-5W
Captain Kerby

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will identify the ethnic groups in which the twenty cases of leprosy in Great Britain were diagnosed during the first six months of 1969, and also the specific towns and areas in which they were notified.

Mr. Snow

Information about ethnic groups is not available, but in every case the infection was contracted abroad.

The location of cases is kept confidential in order to prevent unnecessary local alarm or social difficulties for the patients and their families. It is not generally realised that leprosy, unlike some notifiable diseases, is not highly infectious.