Written question asked by Liam Fox (Conservative) on Thursday, 5 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 10 April 2001. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 April 2001 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of drug resistant TB were reported in the UK in (a) 1999 and (b) 2000. - Includes figures.

Answer: Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of drug resistant TB were reported in the UK in (a) 1999 and (b) 2000. [157870] Yvette Cooper: The 1998 Public Health Laboratory Service tuberculosis survey found that there has been no increase in the proportion of strains of TB resistant to one or more of the standard anti-TB drugs since 1994. The United Kingdom has heightened its surveillance of drug and multi-drug resistant TB through a scheme co-ordinated by the PHLS, through the UK Mycobacterial Resistance Network or MYCOBNET. Information taken from MYCOBNET shows that 33 cases of drug resistant tuberculosis (ie resistant to standard antibiotic drugs) were reported in the UK in 1999 and 36 (provisional figure) in 2000. These figures show a slight decrease in the number from previous years, which have averaged at 49 cases per year since 1994.

Secondary information