EPIDEM′IC

Common to many people. In pathology , an epidemic disease ( EPIDEMIC ; EPIDEMY ) is one which seizes a number of people at the same time and in the same place, but which is not dependent on any local cause, but on some extraordinary condition of the air. When a disease is peculiar to a people or nation, and appears to depend on local causes, it is said to be ‘ ENDEMIC ’ or ‘ ENCHORIAL ,’ Thus, Asiatic cholera may be taken as an example of the first, and the agues of low countries, and the goitre of the Alps, as examples of the other. Epidemics may be divided into indigenous and exotic. Amongst the former may be included scarlet fever, measles, hooping-cough, influenza, typhoid; whilst the latter embrace such as are imported, viz. Asiatic cholera, plague, . No year pa es without the prevalence of an epidemic of one kind or the other in this country. The following enactments for the prevention of epidemic diseases are now in force:— “Whenever any part of England appears to be threatened with, or is affected by, any formidable epidemic, endemic, or infectious disease, the Local Government Board may make, and from time to time alter and revoke, regulations for all or any of the following purposes, viz.:— “(1) For the speedy interment of the dead; and— “(2) For house-to-house visitation; and— “(3) For the provision of medical aid and accommodation, for the promotion of cleansing, ventilation, and disinfection, and for guarding against the spread of the disease;— “and may by order declare all or any of the regulations so made to be in force within the whole or any part or parts of the district of any local authority, and to apply to any ve els as well as arms or parts of the sea within the jurisdiction of the Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, or the Commi ioners for executing the office of the Lord High Admiral for the time being, for the period in such order mentioned, and may by any subsequent order abridge or extend such period.” (P. H., s. 134.) “All such regulations, ., made by the Local Government Board are to be published in the ‘London Gazette,’ and such publication is to be held as conclusive evidence.” (P. H., s. 135.) “The local authority of any district within which, or part of which, regulations so i ued by the Local Government Board are declared to be in force, shall superintend and see to the execution thereof, and shall appoint and pay such medical or other officers or persons, and do and provide all such acts, matters, and things as may be nece ary for mitigating any such disease, or for superintending or aiding in the execution of such regulations, or for executing the same, as the case may require. Moreover, the local authority may from time to time direct any prosecution or legal proceedings for or in respect of the wilful violation or neglect of any such regulation.” (P. H., s. 136.) “The local authority and their officers shall have power of entry on any premises or ve el for the purpose of executing or superintending the execution of any regulations so i ued by the Local Government Board as aforesaid.” (P. H., s. 137.) “Whenever, in compliance with any regulation so i ued by the Local Government Board as aforesaid, any poor-law medical officer performs any medical service on board any ve el, he shall be entitled to charge extra for such service, at the general rate of his allowance for services for the union or place for which he is appointed, and such charges shall be payable by the captain of such ve el on behalf of the owners thereof, together with any reasonable expenses for the treatment of the sick. “Where such services are rendered by any medical practitioner who is not a poor-law medical officer, he shall be entitled to charges for any service rendered on board, with extra remuneration on account of distance, at the same rate as those which he is in the habit of receiving from private patients of the cla of those attended and treated on shipboard, to be paid as aforesaid. In case of dispute in respect of such charges, such dispute may, where the charges do not exceed twenty pounds , be determined by a court of summary jurisdiction; and such court shall determine summarily the amount which is reasonable, according to the accustomed rate of charge within the place where the dispute arises for attendance on patients of the like cla as those in respect of whom the charge is made.” (P. H., s. 138.) “The Local Government Board may, if they think fit, by order authorise or require any two or more local authorities to act together for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to prevention of epidemic diseases, and may prescribe the mode of such joint action, and of defraying the costs thereof.” (P. H., s. 139.) “Any person who— “(1.) Wilfully violates any regulation so i ued by the Local Government Board, as aforesaid; or, “(2.) Wilfully obstructs any person acting under the authority or in the execution of any such regulation shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.” (P. H., s. 140.)