Proceedings of Eighth Annual Meeting 153 



among them. At the close of each month during that year, a post 

 card was mailed to each physician whose name appeared on the 

 maiHng list in the office of the state department of health. The 

 card explaining the purpose of the survey was accompanied by a 

 government franked card for reply. Each physician was asked to 

 report the number of new cases of malaria occurring in his practice 

 during the month preceding. The reports were also to show the 

 types of infection and whether or not the diagnosis was confirmed 

 by the use of the microscope. Cases reported in connection with 

 this survey were checked against reported cases of malaria on file 

 in the office of the state department of health, and where discrep- 

 ancies appeared in the records, follow-up letters were sent asking 

 the physician for an explanation. Cards were sent to 3,012 physi- 

 cians each month during the year, with the exception of February. 

 Seven thousand two hundred twenty-seven replies were received, 

 reporting a total of four hundred fifty-six cases. Four hundred 

 eight cards were returned unclaimed. During the year covered in 

 this survey, only two hundred and seventy cases of malaria were 

 reported to the state department of health by local officials, or 

 about 60 per cent. As many cases were reported to the United 

 States Public Health Service in response to a special appeal for 

 the information and a monthly reminder in the form of post card. 



It is needless to say that physicians who reported cases of malaria 

 to the U. S. Public Health Service but who had failed to report 

 to the state department of health gave numerous and varied rea- 

 sons in the way of explaining their omission to comply with the laws. 

 These need not be enumerated here, other than to state that the 

 number who claimed to be in ignorance of the fact that malaria was 

 a reportable disease was surprisingly large. This signifies the exis- 

 tence of a lack of the kind of co-operation between practicing 

 physicians and local health officials that is so necesary in the efficient 

 control of malaria and other communicable diseases. 



If I am correct in my impression, the county mosquito extermina- 

 tion commissions in New Jersey are chiefly concerned with the 

 extermination of the salt marsh mosquito and securing improve- 

 ments of a permanent character in localities where other species of 

 mosquito breed in sufficient numbers to hold down property values 

 and make life uncomfortable, rather than in mosquito extermina- 

 tion from a public health standpoint alone. Granting this to be the 

 case, this association must recognize the potential danger of return- 

 ing soldiers introducing new foci of infection in sections of the 



