Treatment for Venereal Disease
The recent increase in this country of venereal disease—a danger which was foreseen under the conditions imposed by the war— has necessitated the new Defence Regulation, made by the Minister of Health, under which it will be possible in certain cases to compel persons suffering from it to undergo medical treatment. These diseases, as is now well known, can be quickly cured if taken in time, and properly treated, and the propaganda for persuading persons to undergo voluntary treatment at clinics worked well in peace time, and had gone far towards the elimination of the evil. But this is not enough under war-time conditions. Compulsion would be out of the question if it was a matter which concerned only the patients themselves. But wherever there is danger of communicating the infection to others the position is quite different. The procedure under the Regulation is cautious—perhaps too cautious. It requires that at least two separate patients under treatment for venereal disease should name the same person as the suspected source of their infection before compulsory action can be taken. This is an evil which must be attacked firmly in the public interest, and it is by no means certain that the Regulation goes as far as it should do.
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