§ Mr. John SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of the new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease care package will be earmarked for assisting in the early identification of the symptoms of the disease; [136278]
(2) what support he intends to give as part of the NVCJD care package to the families of victims who have been misdiagnosed. [136279]
§ Yvette CooperPatients will have access to the full range of services provided by the National Health Service and Social Services departments. The Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) Care Package Fund is intended to ensure that people diagnosed as having CJD have rapid access to comprehensive, appropriate packages of care. The speed of diagnosis in cases of CJD is improving all the time and the CJD Surveillance Unit continues to work towards further improvement.
§ Mr. John SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the incidence of misdiagnosis of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. [136277]
§ Yvette CooperNo patient diagnosed as "definite" or "probable" vCJD by the National CJD Surveillance Unit has ever been found to have been suffering from another disease. Since March 1996 the Unit has had a significant number of suspected cases referred to them that, on further investigation, have turned out not to be vCJD cases.
§ Mr. John SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to raise the awareness of health practitioners of the early symptoms of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease; [136282]
(2) what recent research he has commissioned into methods of early identification of the symptoms of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. [136281]
§ Yvette CooperThe National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit (CJDSU) continues to investigate all cases referred to it as possible variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) and keeps diagnostic criteria under constant review. Expanded criteria which allowed "probable vCJD" to be diagnosed for the first time in patients who are still alive were published in March 2000 in a Department of Health press release (2000/0153). All general practitioners were informed about these criteria in August 2000, through the Chief Medical Officer's Update. In addition, the CJDSU regularly sends reminders and updates on vCJD to neurologists throughout the United Kingdom.
564W
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what further research into the incubation period of CJD will be undertaken, and by whom, following the contraction of the disease by a 74-year-old. [136654]
§ Yvette CooperThe Government-funded National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit (CJDSU) continues to investigate all cases of variant CJD (vCJD) referred to it and analyses data collected to try and identify any common factors which might shed light on the route of exposure and the possible incubation period.
The Department has commissioned research to look for vCJD in the elderly population to see if cases may have been missed in this age group.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the(a) groups and (b) individuals who are involved in research into nvCJD. [136619]
§ Yvette CooperDetails of Government funded research projects on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) including variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) are available on the Medical Research Council's website (http://www.mrc.ac.uk/tse_2c.htm).