§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies have been carried out into the anticipated incidence of chronic hepatitis B over the(a) next 5 years and (b) next 10 years. [60520]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: The public health laboratory service (PHLS) has estimated the current incidence of chronic hepatitis B infection using laboratory reports of acute hepatitis B infection from 1992 to 1996. The estimate is based on reports to the PHLS, the proportion of cases that develop symptoms and the proportion that progress to chronic infection.
The PHLS estimates that in the United Kingdom, there are an annual average of 311 hepatitis B infections that lead to chronic infection.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list(a) the members of the Steering Group on hepatitis C and (b) the terms of reference of the group. [60406]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: The membership of the Hepatitis C strategy steering group is as follows:
Chairman
Professor Howard Thomas, Imperial College School of Medicine, London and Chairman, Advisory Group on HepatitisMembers
John Bryce, lay memberJim Camp, Needle Exchange ForumHannah Cinamon, Health Promotion England (until November 2001)Professor Chris Day, Medical School, Newcastle UniversityManlio Fahrni, Chair of Re-act and vice-chair of the recently launched national forum, the UK Assembly on Hepatitis (from September 2001)1225WJo Guy, Hepatology Nurse Specialist, Southampton General HospitalDr. Paul Hatton, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, Leeds health authority and member. Advisory Group on HepatitisLorraine Hewitt, Action on Hepatitis C and member, Advisory Council on the Misuse of DrugsNigel Hughes, British Liver TrustProfessor Will Irving, Department of Microbiology, University of Nottingham and member. Advisory Group on HepatitisTania Machell, Head of National Hepatitis C Resource Centre, Mainliners (from July 2001)Grant McNally, National Drug Users Development AgencyDr. Mary Ramsay, Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance CentreProfessor Gerry Stimson, Centre for Research on Drugs and Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, London Professor John Strang, Director of the National Addiction Centre, Maudsley Hospital, London and member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of DrugsMonique Tomlinson, Deputy Director, Mainliners (until July 2001)Dr. Martyn Wake, General Practitioner, south west London.Its terms of reference are:
"To oversee development of the Department's strategic approach to hepatitis C by bringing together issues relating to prevention, control and treatment and to produce a document within the year, for consultation with the national health service, professional bodies and the voluntary sector and community sectors".
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies have been carried out since 1997 to monitor the changes in the epidemiology of hepatitis C infection in England following the introduction of an effective antiviral treatment with interferon and ribavirin; and if he will make a statement. [60526]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: We are not aware of any national studies on the effect of the introduction of treatment for hepatitis C infection with interferon and ribavirin on its epidemiology.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 10 May 2002,Official Report, column 406W, on hepatitis C, what proportion of those cases identified had persistent viraemia. [60404]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: The information requested is not available. However, several studies have shown that persistent viraemia occurs in about 80 per cent. of cases with antibody positive hepatitis C diagnoses.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 10 May 2002,Official Report, column 406W, on hepatitis C, if the figures given included testing carried out in virology departments of teaching hospitals and private laboratories. [60403]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: The information already provided about antibody positive hepatitis C diagnoses does include those reported to the public health laboratory service (PHLS) by laboratories in teaching hospitals and the private sector.
Most national health service microbiology laboratories (including laboratories in teaching hospitals) and some private microbiology laboratories voluntarily report 1226W diagnoses of hepatitis C to the PHLS. Reports from private laboratories form a very small proportion of all reports received.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of patients have chronic liver diseases in the UK owing to chronic infection with hepatitis C virus. [60522]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: The data requested are not available. However, in 2000–01, there were 27,827 finished consultant episodes in national health service hospitals in England with a primary diagnosis of liver disease. Of these, 524 finished consultant episodes had a secondary diagnosis of chronic viral hepatitis C.
Notes:
- 1. A finished consultant episode is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes within the year.
- 2. Occasionally there may be missing records or missing diagnosis/operation codes in the HES records so a scaling factor is applied to allow for this. However these grossing factors have not yet been applied to the 2000–01 data.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with acute hepatitis(a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E and (f) G in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement. [60521]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: The information available is given in the tables.
Laboratory reports, England and Wales 1990–20011 Number of people diagnosed Hepatitis A infection 1990 7,545 1991 7,202 1992 6,762 1993 3,957 1994 2,413 1995 1,750 1996 1,086 1997 1,310 1998 1,104 1999 1,389 2000 1,047 2001 772 Acute hepatitis B infection 1990 618 1991 572 1992 531 1993 629 1994 631 1995 614 1996 569 1997 652 1998 843 1999 725 2000 661 2001 534 1 2001 data are provisional. Source:
Public Health Laboratory Service
1227W
Laboratory reports, England and Wales 1990–20011 Number of people diagnosed Hepatitis E infection 1994 12 1995 33 1996 52 1997 21 1998 56 1999 30 2000 34 2001 25 1 2001 data are provisional Source:
Public Health Laboratory Service
The majority of cases of acute hepatitis C infection do not result in symptoms. Laboratory reports of antibody to hepatitis C do not distinguish between new and previous infections. Hepatitis D can only occur in people infected with hepatitis B and separate data on hepatitis D infections are not collected routinely. Hepatitis G is not known to cause hepatitis.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the consultation paper on a strategy for hepatitis C. [60405]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) on 14 May 2002, Official Report, column 630W.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what(a) percentage and (b) sums of the budgets of each health authority and primary health trust in England are allocated for the treatment of hepatitis C; [60525]
(2) if additional funding will be made available to primary health trusts for the use of pegylated interferon for the antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis C, and if he will make a statement. [60523]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 10 June 2002]: Health authority allocations for 2002–03 increased by £3,704 million, or 9.9 per cent.
It is for health authorities in partnership with primary care trusts and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services.
A key priority for the use of additional funding is the implementation of guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). We have referred pegylated interferons for the treatment of hepatitis C to NICE for inclusion in its work programme.