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Prevalence and Control of
Infectious Diseases
From the table of infectious diseases set out on page 37 it
will be seen that 1.088 cases of infectious disease were notified
during the year, as against 809 in 1949. The Infectious Sickness
Rate for the district was therefore 14.67, as compared with 11.18
during the previous year.
I would once again point out that the Infectious Sickness
Rate has no longer any very great practical epidemiological
significance, due mainly to the fact that, year by year, measles
makes up 50% or more of the total cases notified. The prevalence
of measles in a district seems to bear little or no relationship to
environmental hygiene, except that overcrowding, both in the home
and in schools, can be accepted as playing a part.
The remarks relating to infectious diseases set out in the
Annual Report for 1949 hold good today. The picture is still
changing, and is particularly obscure in regard to virus infections.
Until more is known regarding the nature, behaviour, reservoir and
mode of spread of viruses, it does not appear that substantial
progress can be expected in the fight against such virus infections
as poliomyelitis, influenza and even measles. Much work is being
done in this field, with particular reference to the reservoir, without
which virus infection would presumably cease to operate. We
await the results of such investigations with interest, in the
knowledge that virus infections now represent the most serious
threat to the community in the field of infectious diseases.
1 would again emphasize that modern epidemiology must
never be confiined to a study of what we still term the infectious
disease. The causes of ill-health and of death, i.e., morbidity and
mortality, from whatever source, must be linked into a broad
homogeneous pattern. Thus, the comparatively recent and alarming
increase in deaths from diseases of the heart and circulation
in early and late middle life, presents a major problem to the
epidemiologist. The ravages caused by cancer, rheumatism and
gastro-intestinal disorders, none of which can be regarded as
infectious within the strict meaning of that term, are further
epidemiological factors which call for consideration. In a district
such as Southgate, it is difficult to place one's finger on any local
conditions which could be said to influence the incidence and
severity of such diseases, at least to any material extent. So far as
diseases of the heart and circulation and such conditions as gastric
and duodenal ulcer are concerned, the pace and strain of presentday
living are undoubtedly playing a significant part. It is our
duty to consider such problems and to try to ascertain whether
any local factors might be operating to the disadvantage of the
community.
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