§ Sir Anthony Kershawasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in view of the repeated outbreaks lasting over a number of years of meningitis in the Stroud area of Gloucestershire, he will now take further steps to increase the medical resources being devoted to discovering the cause and the prevention of this disease; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeEverything possible is being done to discover the cause of the incidence of acute meningitis in Stroud. The district health authority, with assistance and advice from the public health laboratory service and the communicable disease surveillance centre, are investigating meticulously all patients reported to have meningitis, their contacts and their environment. The Manchester public health laboratory and the Medical Research Council's clinical research centre at Northwick park hospital are both conducting research into meningococcal meningitis, and further work is being done by the research laboratories of the Wellcome Foundation.