§ Mr. NellistTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how he seeks to ensure that no member of the hepatitis B high risk group, as defined by the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, or their family, is denied vaccination; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will institute a Government information and monitoring programme on hepatitis B and add hepatitis B to the screening study currently in progress on the incidence of AIDS and HIV; and if he will make a statement;
(3) whether the Health Education Authority has any plans to conduct an education campaign on hepatitis B targeted at specific groups and their families as well as prescribing physicians; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanThe Health Education Authority is currently reviewing all its publications on sexually transmitted diseases, including information on hepatitis B.
Viral hepatitis B is a notifiable disease and the public health laboratory service continues to monitor its incidence. The Department does not believe additional monitoring or screening procedures are required. Reported cases to the PHLS for the last five years for which figures are available are shown in the table:
828W
Acute hepatitis B; laboratory reports 1985–89 Year Reported cases 1985 1,785 1986 1,329 1987 785
Year Reported cases 1988 644 1989 1608 1 Figure provisional. Note: Acute hepatitis B reported from laboratories in England, Wales and Ireland includes all illnesses with or without jaundice, diagnosed as acute hepatitis and confirmed as type B by positive hepatitis B surface antigen tests or other serological markers of current or recent infection.
These figures show a welcome decline in the incidence of the disease.
A new edition of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's memorandum, "Immunisation against Infectious Disease", to be issued shortly, will remind doctors of the high risk groups. However, the responsibility for ensuring vaccination is for occupational health services and for individual doctors, as appropriate.