§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her Department's estimate of the number of hepatitis B carriers in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. SackvilleIt is estimated that about one person per 1,000 of the population in the United Kingdom is a carrier of hepatitis B. This proportion is unlikely to have changed significantly over the past five years. The number of cases of hepatitis B has been falling over the same period and was at the lowest level recorded in 1991, the latest year for which figures are available, at 517 cases.