Meningitis

(asked on 17th July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of Meningitis B there have been in the UK since January 2013; and in how many such cases individuals have (a) died, (b) required amputation of limbs, (c) become blind, (d) become deaf and (e) contracted other central nervous system complications as a result of Meningitis B.


Answered by
 Portrait
Jane Ellison
This question was answered on 2nd September 2014

There were 667 laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal B disease in England from January 2013 to March 2014, which is the latest available information.

There were 40 deaths registered in England in 2013 in which the underlying cause was meningococcal infection. Data about deaths from meningococcal B infection are not separately available. Information on deaths for 2014 will be available in July 2015.

Information on complications associated with invasive meningococcal B disease is not routinely collected as part of meningococcal surveillance. Many of the complications continue to develop, evolve and be tested after the diagnosis is confirmed, especially long-term complications such as behaviour, communication or memory problems, and, therefore, cannot be collected in real-time.

The most robust and comprehensive data on long-term complications following meningococcal B disease in children in England is in a recent study published in The Lancet Neurology in 2012, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.

Information for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Devolved Administrations.

Reticulating Splines