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6
SECTION 1.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
The term infectious diseases is given to those diseases which are
most readily transmissible from one human being to another and
from an animal to a human being. They can be transmitted from
one person to another so easily and quickly that in a very short
space of time a large number of individuals may become infected
so giving rise to an epidemic.
Notification is the essential peliminary to control of infectious
disease and as more and more has become known about each
transmissible infectious disease so has it been made notifiable.
The diseases notifiable under the Public Health Act, 1936, are
smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, membraneous croup, erysipelas,
scarlet fever, typhus, typhoid, enteric and relapsing fever.
The Minister of Health has also made regulations whereby
the following diseases are also notifiable : plague, poliomyelitis,
tuberculosis, puerperal pyrexia, ophthalmia neonatorum, malaria,
dysentery, acute primary pneumonia, acute influenzal pneumonia,
measles, whooping cough, acute encephalitis and meningococcal
infection.
Food poisoning is notifiable under the provisions of the Food
and Drugs Act of 1938.
Early Diagnosis.
Since these diseases are as a rule most infective in the early
stages the importance of early diagnosis in the prevention of spread
of disease cannot be over emphasised. It is important therefore that
parents should be able to recognise the early signs of the common
infectious diseases.
As part of the health education campaign, topical leaflets are
distributed through the Town Hall and the Public Libraries when
any infectious disease is prevalent.
Leaflets describing the essential points of home nursing of
persons suffering from infections, and advice as to disinfection are
provided when necessary.
Hospitalization.
Persons suffering from certain severe infectious conditions may
need hospital care and can be admitted to Neasden Isolation
Hospital or to South Middlesex Hospital, Mogden.