ABSTRACT
In public health administration, two diseases or groups of diseases, namely, tuberculosis and venereal diseases (VD) such as gonorrhoea and syphilis have been made the subject of special measures of control, including treatment of these diseases at the public expense. Venereal diseases originate in anti-social conduct. A service for the diagnosis of VD by laboratory methods should be organised by the large public health authorities, to form part of more general provision of laboratory facilities having for their object the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. In addition, the supply of laboratory diagnostic facilities for every patient gives every private practitioner the same gratuitous help as is afforded for diphtheria, enteric fever, and some other acute infectious diseases. In a letter dated August 29, 1916, the Local Government Board recommended to the local councils responsible for the administration of anti-venereal measures the need for securing cordial co-operation of the medical profession.
