To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will commission further epidemiological studies into common factors among those who have contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; and if he will make a statement; (222328)

The National CJD Surveillance Unit (NCJDSU) currently considers the epidemiology of all new cases in the United Kingdom, against the background of on-going studies examining risk factors for vCJD. Findings are regularly published in peer reviewed journals and the NCJDSU Annual Report.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and (b) new diagnoses of vCJD there have been since the period covered by the press release placed on his Department’s website on vCJD statistics in October 2007; and if he will make a statement. (222331)

There has been one new vCJD diagnosis and three deaths since the final monthly press release dated 2 October 2007.