§ Mr. David HeathTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reported cases of vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infection there were in(a) 1996 and (b) 1997 to date. [9994]
§ Ms JowellNo central data on the number of cases of infection with vancomycin-resistant enterococci are collected. However, national epidemiological data are compiled by the Public Health Laboratory Service, from isolates—specimens of bacteria isolated from patients—submitted voluntarily by hospitals in England and Wales for specialist microbiological tests. The total number of isolates submitted in 1996 was 1,800 and for 1997 the798W figure is 203 to the end of May 1997. These data do not record the number of affected patients or the proportion of cases of infection rather than colonisation—non-infected carrier state—with VRE. However, the PHLS estimates that about 10 per cent. of these totals represent cases of true infection due to the organism.