§ Ms GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the percentage change in the number of cases of(a) hepatitis and (b) dysentery since the privatisation of the water authorities.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe data provided are for notification—England and Wales—to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys of dysentery and hepatitis A, the form of viral hepatitis most likely to be transmitted by water, between 1988 and 1993. The data for 1993 are provisional. These notifications may be made before the diagnosis is firmly established. Notifications are therefore subject to withdrawal or amendment.
Year Dysentery Per cent. change Hepatitis A Per cent. change 1988 3,692 — 3,190 — 1989 3,278 -11 5,278 +65 1990 2,756 -16 7,316 +39 1991 9,935 +260 7,430 +2 1992 16,960 +71 7,856 +6 1993 6,837 -60 4,457 -43 Dysentery and viral hepatitis both show a periodicity in their incidence with natural peaks and troughs every eight to 10 years. The most recent peaks in the annual incidence of dysentery were seen in 1984 and 1992 and the most 1228W recent peaks in the annual incidence of hepatitis A were seen in 1982 and 1992.
§ Ms GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what study she has commissioned regarding any correlation between the number of dysentery cases and the price of water;
(2) what study she has commissioned into any correlation between the number of hepatitis cases and the price of water.
§ Mr. SackvilleNone.