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Although, as I say, Friern Barnet is not the
type of district in which it could be said that conditions
especially favourable to the spread of disease exist, we
must continue to search for such conditions, which may well
be latent. We must also strive to take such measures as
are possible to prevent these disease-producing factors
from arising, to destroy any weeds which may take root,
however tenuous, in our garden. This is the true meaning
of epidemiology in its widest, its most modern sense.
Leaving aside the important question of epidemiology
as we know it today, the picture in regard to infectious
disease is still relatively fluent, In my Annual Report
for 1953, I mentioned the reduction in severity, particularly
as it affects a disease such as scarlet fever. These
remarks still apply. We also know that virus diseases,
many indeterminate, are still being investigated, that they
have shown a definite tendency to increase. Among these
diseases the complaint known as winter vomiting is particularly
apparent. This disease has little more than nuisance
value, and has not shown itself capable of producing either
a serious illness or dangerous after-effects. None the
less, the appearance of new virus diseases must.be treated
with great caution, since we know only too well the ravages
which a virus disease such as poliomyelitis can and do
produce. Unfortunately, only a proportion, virtually an
unknown proportion, of virus infections are at present
notifiable. This is inevitable, as many of these diseases
are extremely mild; while their relationship to other diseases
and their precise position in the general pattern has not
yet been fully established. In the meantime, therefore,
we continue to hold a watching brief, prepared to change
our attitude in the light of experience and information.
I would conclude this section by making reference
to influenza. Towards the end of 1953 the Ministry of
Health asked us to supply information on the prevalence of
influenza, particularly the specific type of influenza
complicated by pneumonia and by cerebral sequelae. I
communicated on several occasions with general practitioners,
and obtained a miscellaneous bag of information which I then
correlated and transmitted to the Ministry. At that time,
there did not appear any evidence that influenza was unduly
prevalent. Later, however, the number of cases did
increase, so much so that we might have had to put into
operation certain emergency domiciliary nursing measures for
which we were fully prepared. Fortunately, the number
of serious complications and deaths gave no cause for alarm.
This, however, is an example of the type of co-operation
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