To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been identified as having contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease according to the most recently available figures; and if she will make a statement.

Figures are contained in the second annual report on Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in the United Kingdom produced by Dr. R. G. Will and colleagues from the national CJD surveillance unit, Edinburgh. The table shows definite and probable cases of CJD notified to the unit during the first three years of the prospective study:

Definite and probable cases of CJD in the United Kingdom
	Number
1 May 1990 to 30 April 1991	32
1 May 1991 to 30 April 1992	37
1 May 1992 to 30 April 1993	48

The figures for 1990–91 and 1991–92 update those in the first annual report.Although there has been a rise in the annual incidence of cases of CJD notified to the unit, the report concludes that this is not statistically significant and is likely to be related to increased ascertainment of cases. The report also confirms that there has been no significant change in the epidemiological or clinical characteristics of CJD since the occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). A preliminary analysis of dietary history provides no convincing evidence of an increase in incidence of CJD in relation to possible dietary exposure to BSE. It will, however, be necessary to continue the study into the incidence of CJD for a decade or more to detect any change in the pattern of the disease.Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.