To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research is currently being undertaken by the Government into toxic shock syndrome; and if he will make a statement.

For several years the staphyococcal reference laboratory of the public health laboratory service has gathered information about the occurrence of toxic shock syndrome and has characterised the strains involved from this and other conditions. Work in this field is also being carried out in universities and national health service hospitals and at the centre for applied microbiological research, Porton Down.