Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people (a) infected and (b) diagnosed with viral hepatitis in each of the last 10 years.
Jane Ellison
Hepatitis A, B, C and E are viruses that affect the liver. Where tests can differentiate acute from chronic infections data is presented as newly acquired infections and where not data is presented as newly diagnosed cases.
Cases of confirmed newly acquired hepatitis A virus infection are reported by laboratories to Public Health England.
Table 1: Hepatitis A laboratory reports (newly acquired infections) , England (2002-2012).
|
Year |
Number of hepatitis A reports |
|
2002 |
1,278 |
|
2003 |
999 |
|
2004 |
610 |
|
2005 |
469 |
|
2006 |
374 |
|
2007 |
344 |
|
2008 |
344 |
|
2009 |
341 |
|
2010 |
359 |
|
2011 |
252 |
|
2012 |
279 |
Data on acute hepatitis B infections are reported both from laboratories and from Health Protection Teams to Public Health England. Reporting in this way commenced in 2008.
Table 2: Reports of acute hepatitis B infections (newly acquired infections), England (2008-2012)
|
Year |
Number of hepatitis B reports |
|
2008 |
620 |
|
2009 |
597 |
|
2010 |
512 |
|
2011 |
589 |
|
2012 |
554 |
Laboratory reports of newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C are reported to Public Health England.
Table 3: Laboratory reports of hepatitis C (newly diagnosed cases) , England (2002-2012)
|
Year |
Number of hepatitis C reports |
|
2002 |
4,809 |
|
2003 |
5,570 |
|
2004 |
6,240 |
|
2005 |
6,295 |
|
2006 |
6,961 |
|
2007 |
7,808 |
|
2008 |
8,407 |
|
2009 |
8,662 |
|
2010 |
7,882 |
|
2011 |
9,917 |
|
2012 |
10,873 |
Notes:
1. At present serological tests are not able to differentiate between acute and chronic cases of hepatitis C infection. Therefore, laboratory reports of hepatitis C contain both recently acquired infections and past infections. For this reason the data represent newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C as opposed to newly acquired infections.
2. Hepatitis surveillance data for 2013 will be available in August 2014.
Laboratory reports of confirmed cases of hepatitis E are reported to Public Health England. Surveillance began in 2003.
Table 4: Laboratory reports of hepatitis E (newly acquired infections) , England (2003-2012)
|
Year |
Number of hepatitis E reports |
|
2003 |
122 |
|
2004 |
145 |
|
2005 |
294 |
|
2006 |
239 |
|
2007 |
161 |
|
2008 |
168 |
|
2009 |
166 |
|
2010 |
258 |
|
2011 |
435 |
|
2012 |
530 |
