§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Eccles on 22 June, who is funding the research into cytomegalovirus at Charing Cross medical school and St. Bartholomew's hospital; if he will give the dates of the research projects and the amount of the grants awarded; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. William SheltonThe research project at Charing Cross hospital medical school is supported by a grant for the Charity Action Research for the Crippled Child. An initial grant of £41,489 to cover three years was made in February 1979 to study the vertical transmission of cytomegalovirus—CMV —and its role in the causation of mental and physical handicap. A supplementary grant of £4,391 was made in November 1980 for additional clerical expenses. A further grant of £29,193 for a two-year extension was made in July 1982.
The research being undertaken at St. Bartholomew's hospital is being supported by a grant from the Wellcome Trust. The project is to study the importance of intrauterine CMV infection as a cause of mental retardation and other childhood handicap. The grant is for three years from March 1980, but details of the amount of the award are not available.
In 1980 the research workers at these two centres submitted a joint application to the Medical Research Council for a three-year project grant to follow up infants with congenital CMV infection in order to establish the frequency and nature of defects attributable to CMV. This was awarded by the council and the sum involved is approximately £40,000; the present currency of this grant is until 31 December 1983.