HC Deb 12 July 1988 vol 137 cc172-3W
Mr. Holt

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of meningitis have been reported in each of the past six months; how many resulted in death; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Currie

Meningitis can be caused by a number of different organisms. My hon. Friend may be particularly interested in meningococcal meningitis; data for this plus all forms of acute meningitis are shown in the table. The data are not available in exactly the form requested; notification data for infectious diseases are compiled on a weekly basis, and are shown in the table by approximate monthly period. The data should be regarded as provisional.

(Provisional: to allow for corrected disease notifications and late death registrations)
Number of notifications of all forms of acute meningitis and meningococcal meningitis; and death registrations of meningococcal infection
(ICD 9 036) by approximate monthly period
England and Wales 1988
Period Notifications Deaths1
Acute Meningococcal Meningococcal infection
26 December 1987 to 22 January 1988 352 199 24
23 January 1988 to 19 February 1988 258 123 15
20 February 1988 to 18 March 1988 248 122 21
19 March 1988 to 15 April 1988 264 131 16
16 April 1988 to 13 May 1988 221 108 16
14 May 1988 to 10 June 1988 191 80 11
1 Includes all deaths assigned to meningococcal infection (International Classification of Diseases 9th Revision code 036).