SUMMARY OF THE MARCH REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF VENEREAL DISEASES, PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE. Medical Activities. There are approximately 250 clinics being operated by, or in conjunction with, the United States Public Health Service, Division of Venereal Diseases. On account of delay in getting reports from the field the accompanying table covers the activities of only 33 of these clinics. This table shows that during the month there were 2,869 new cases of venereal diseases admitted, making a total of 11,931 patients under treatment. The average daily attendance during March was 47.9 as compared with 32.7 for the month of February. Census of all patients under care of 33 of the clinics operated by, or in conjunction with, the U. S. Public Health Service, for the month of March, 1919. A large number of clinics have passed from the absolute control of the Government and the Red Cross to the control of the State and local health departments and are financed by the latter organizations, but remain indirectly under the supervision of the division through its State representatives. Conferences are encouraged with State boards of health officers, to be followed by a statement to the Public Health Service Bureau of proposed recommendations for future operations. The following services were rendered by the nurses engaged in venereal-disease control in the extra-cantonment zones: Number of requests for publications referred to State boards of health................ Publications purchased or reprinted by State boards of health (report not complete).. Publications distributed... Educational Activities. Requests for publications from individuals.............. 4,369 Requests for publications from health officers, physicians, hospitals, nurses, civic organizations, city officials, libraries, editors, Y. M. C. A., and educators (campaign for churches closed)... 3, 303 4, 109 200,000 942, 702 24 39 13 280 2,896 10, 271 33 Number of States which have purchased framed placards for railroad stations.. Number of lectures, exhibitions of films, addresses and conferences (reports Additional pledges of cooperation received from druggists (report not com- Additional pledges of cooperation from physicians (report not complete).... Legislation. Bills providing for appropriations for combating venereal disease have been passed in the following States: Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, and Virginia have no legislative Bession this year. The Georgia Legislature meets in June, 1919; the Florida Legislature convened April 8, 1919. The following bills on venereal diseases have been passed: Alabama: Injunction and abatement act, ouster law, venereal disease-control act, venereal disease bar to marriage act, State board of control act. Delaware: Injunction and abatement act, venereal disease-control act. Montana: Venereal disease-control act. North Carolina: Vice repressive act, injunction and abatement act, venereal diseasecontrol act. Oregon: Venereal disease-control act. South Carolina: Venereal disease-control act. South Dakota: Venereal disease-control act. Utah: Venereal disease-control act, act relating to control of venereal diseases in women's reformatories, act prohibiting sale of venereal disease drugs except on prescription of a physician. Washington: Venereal disease-control act, act relating to control of venereal diseases in women's farms and reformatories. Michigan: Venereally diseased persons barred from handling food. The following States have laws prohibiting marriage on account of venereal disease: Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin. THE NOTIFIABLE DISEASES. PREVALENCE DURING 1917 IN CITIES OF 10,000 TO 100,000. CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS, DIPHTHERIA, GONORRHEA, MALARIA, MEASLES, PELLAGRA, POLIOMYELITIS (INFANTILE PARALYSIS), RABIES IN ANIMALS, RABIES IN MAN, SCARLET FEVER, SMALLPOX, SYPHILIS, TUBERCULOSIS (PULMONARY), TUBERCU LOSIS (ALL FORMS), AND TYPHOID FEVER-CASES AND DEATHS REPORTED, INDICATED CASE RATES PER 1,000 POPULATION, INDICATED FATALITY RATES PER 100 CASES. The tables shown on the following pages were compiled from data furnished by health officers of cities of the United States in response to requests from the Public Health Service for information of the reported prevalence of disease during the calendar year 1917. These requests were sent to all cities of 10,000 population or over. The data for cities of over 100,000 population have been published (Reprint from the Public Health Reports, No. 498). A similar publication for States, giving the reported cases and deaths by months, has been issued (Reprint 505). The present article contains reports from cities of between 10,000 and 100,000 population which responded to the request for information. Many cities did not respond, and some stated frankly that the desired data were not available, as reports had not been received from physicians. It is believed that practically all cities are included which have records of morbidity from communicable diseases which are of value for statistical purposes. It will be noted that some of the cities are apparently much more. successful in obtaining reports of the notifiable diseases than are others. This may be due to the greater activity of their health departments or to a greater interest in the public welfare on the part of their practicing physicians. That the health departments of certain cities are securing sufficiently complete information of the prevalence of preventable diseases to make possible their control is indicated in a number of instances by the large numbers of cases reported as compared with the numbers of deaths registered from the same causes. In studying these tables it should be kept in mind that a relatively large number of reported cases of a communicable disease, as indicated by a high case rate (and more especially when accompanied by a relatively small number of deaths, as indicated by a low fatality rate) usually means that the health department of that city is active and that the cases of the disease are being well reported by the practicing physicians. It does not usually mean that the disease is more prevalent in that city than in other cities. A high fatality rate may mean that the disease was unusually virulent in a city, that the physicians did not treat the disease in that city with the success usual elsewhere, or that the practicing physicians did not report all of their cases to the health department. On the other hand, an unusually low fatality rate may be due to the fact that the disease in the city was unusually mild, that the physicians treated it with unusual success, that the practicing physicians reported their cases satisfactorily, or that the registration of deaths was incomplete, or the assignment of the causes of death inaccurate. REPORTED PREVALENCE FOR THE YEAR 1917. 1 Cities in which no cases of this disease were reported are not included in this table. REPORTED PREVALENCE FOR THE YEAR 1917-Continued. East St. Louis, Ill. 43,761 1 100.00 069 33.33 Pa. Eau Claire, Wis. Edwardsville, Flizabeth, N. J. Elmira, N. Y.. El Paso, Tex. Elwood, Ind. Erie, Pa.. Escanaba, Mich. Everett, Mass. Everett, Wash. Fairmont, W. Va.. Fond du Lac, Wis. Franklin, Pa. Fremont, Ohio. Galveston, Tex.. Grand Forks, N. Dak. 1 10, 190 77,312 20 57,386 21,486 78,014 10,959 11,555 11,034 .067 100.00 .001 100.00 37,205 027 |