Epidemiology and Regulatory Medicine

Abstract

Man's ageless struggle against disease becomes more complex and more urgent as the intensity of population and interchange of commerce increase. This is in the effect whether we are speaking of animal diseases, plant diseases, insect pests, or dis-eases of the human family. This enlargement of the problem as the years go by is illustrated by a statement that is often made, and which I believe accurately portrays the situation. It is this-that as the animal population of an area doubles, the disease and pest problems increase four-fold. We in this country have enjoyed along. development period of expanding into fresh new lands with relatively low concentration of human population, livestock and crops. But the advantages of our natural heritage in this respect are fast diminishing as the leveling effects of our national growth within a fixed land area bring us ever closer to the more urgent disease problems long faced by older countries.