Synopsis of the final report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases / by Douglas White.

  • White, Douglas
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Synopsis of the final report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases / by Douglas White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    50/92 page 42
    § 158. § 159. § 160. § 161. S162: S163. ROYAL COMMISSION ON VENEREAL DISEASES. information is a secondary consideration, though important. Notification was first applied (Infectious Diseases [Noti- fication] Act, 1889) to certain acute infectious diseases, and is mainly used for prevention. The medical officer of health, on being informed, must immediately visit and inquire into the cause and conditions of outbreak, taking steps to prevent its spread. Local authorities are empowered to take compulsory measures, such as disin- fection and sometimes removal of patients to hospital. The patient may be subjected to penalties for showing himself in public (streets, shops, conveyances), and may be prohibited from exercising occupation or business which endangers the public. These provisions apply, in practice, almost exclusively to the acute infectious diseases, though the wording of the statute might cover other diseases also. Local authorities are empowered to provide hospitals for certain diseases, and have done so. This facilitates prompt isolation, and treatment of patients who could not be well treated at home. The system is of direct benefit to the individual as well as the community. This appears also in respect of tuberculosis, which is notified with a view to treatment of the individual. The object also of notification of ophthalmia neonatorum was the prevention of blindness to the child. Statistical informa- tion is an incidental advantage. ’ The application of the principle to V.D. has been widely discussed in evidence.. The advantages have been pre- sented mainly under two heads—(1) its educational effect in emphasising the infectious and dangerous nature of the diseases, and (2) as an aid to the removal of conditions favourable to propagation, such as bad housing and over- crowding. But notification must be based upon the assistance which it would lend to the treatment of the individual and upon the consequent protection to the community, not upon its general preventive advantages. The question is, would notification favour prompt diagnosis and early and continuous treatment? These are the essentials of SUCCESS. Most witnesses anticipated reluctance to notify on the part of medical attendants, and, tf it were ‘entorced, increased resort by the patients to unqualified persons. To counter this, it was suggested that the unqualified persons also should notify, so that their diagnosis should be professionally confirmed, and correct treatment initiated.
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