§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish for each of the last five years the number of people who have contracted (i) hepatitis A, (ii) hepatitis B, (iii) hepatitis C, (iv) hepatitis D and (v) hepatitis E in England and Wales, separately distinguishing the figures by health authority areas.
§ Mr. FreemanThe figures for laboratory reports to the communicable disease surveillance centre of the public health laboratory service are as follows:
Year Clinical hepatitis A Acute hepatitis B 1985 2,254 1,785 1986 2,217 1,329 1987 2,785 785 1988 4,167 644 1989 15,334 1605 1 Provisional figure. It is not possible to provide the breakdown requested by health authority area, but the percentages of the above reports by area over the five-year period were: 516W
Region Percentage of reports Hepatitis A Hepatitis B Northern 4 5 Yorkshire 11 11 Trent 7 8 East Anglia 2 3 North West Thames 8 7 North East Thames 7 6 South East Thames 6 8 Wessex 3 4 Oxford 4 4 South Western 8 8 West Midlands 10 8 Mersey 3 6 North Western 12 13 Wales 5 4 Reliable figures for hepatitis C, D and E are not available, because the diagnostic tests for these viruses are at different stages of development and use.