View report page

It is perfectly clear that medical practitioners do not understand
what forms of pneumonia are notifiable, and the common
mistake seems to be in assuming that the description in the
Regulations “Acute Primary Pneumonia” means Acute
Lobar Pneumonia. It is true that it means Acute Primary
Lobar Pneumonia, but it also means Acute Primary Broncho
Pneumonia and any other acute primary pneumonia. The
following quotation from a Memorandum issued by the
Local Government Board in 1919 defines exactly what was
the intention of the Board when Regulations were made for
the notification of pneumonia:—
" Acute pneumonia may be defined as a febrile
disease characterised by inflammation of the lungs and
due to one or more specific micro-organisms. Two
forms of the disease are generally recognised :—
(a) Acute lobar or croupous pneumonia ; and
(b) Acute lobular or broncho-pneumonia.
Either of these may be either primary or secondary
to some other recognised disease."
One of the chief objects of notification of pneumonia was
to obtain statistical evidence of the extent to which the
disease or diseases existed, and until notification is more
thorough this object cannot be achieved. Another very important
reason for making these diseases notifiable was to