§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of juvenile muscular degeneration are known to his Department; and approximately how many new cases are reported each year.
§ Mr. DorrellInformation in this form is not held centrally. I am advised that there are many degenerative diseases of either the central nervous system or muscle which affect children and are mostly of genetic origin. The most common is muscular dystrophy which affects about one in 3,500 boys from early childhood onwards. At the current birth rate we would expect there to be about 100 new cases reported each year.