HC Deb 11 December 1996 vol 287 cc228-30W
Mr. Alan W. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the link between over-prescribing of antibiotics and meningitis clusters. [8024]

Mr. Horam

We are aware of the recent publication of a scientific paper reporting on a study conducted by the Gloucester public health laboratory in 1987 which a Sunday newspaper reported as suggesting an association between meningitis and the high use of antibiotics. However, the scientific paper, which has produced some interesting observations, explores several possible explanations. Further work is necessary before any conclusions can be reached and the public health laboratory service's meningococcal committee is to consider recommendations on future work.

Mr. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidents of each strain of meningitis have been reported in England and Wales in each year since 1990. [8025]

Mr. Horam

The numbers of laboratory confirmed cases of meningococcal meningitis since 1990 are given in the table:

Isolates of N Meningitidis received at the Public Health Laboratory Service's Meningococcal Reference Laboratory 1990–1996, England and Wales
Group 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 19961
A 13 6 1 2 1 0 0
B 997 959 923 929 789 921 736
C 466 394 326 319 291 468 507
Other groups 24 39 45 47 48 70 62
All groups 1,500 1,398 1,301 1,297 1,129 1,459 1,305
1 To 15 November 1996 only.

Mr. William O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed as suffering from meningitis in each of the area health authorities in West Yorkshire in the past 12 months. [8092]

Mr. Horam

Information is not available in the form requested. Notification data are routinely collected by local authority and district rather than health authority. Provisional numbers of cases of meningitis notified to the Office for National Statistics, and the notification rates per 100,000 population, for the county of West Yorkshire for the last 12 months are given in the table:

Provisional numbers of meningitis notifications in West Yorkshire October 1995-September 1996.
County-West Yorkshire Number of meningitis notifications1 Annual notification rates per 100,000
County District
Bradford 41 8.5
Calderdale 9 4.7
Kirkless 15 3.9
Leeds 44 6.1
Wakefield 6 1.9
West Yorkshire 115 5.5
1 Notifications are made on the suspicion of clinical disease, not all of which will be confirmed cases of meningitis.

Mr. O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice his Department has given or plans to give to local health authorities in respect of a possible winter meningitis outbreak; and if he will make a statement. [8093]

Mr. Horam

Guidelines on the control of meningococcal infection have been issued by the public health laboratory service since 1989. These are regularly updated and published and copies are sent to all directors of public health and consultants in communicable disease control. The most recent guidelines on the control of meningococcal infection were issued on 8 December 1995 in the PHLS's communicable disease review.