Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1980, Page 136

Conclusion
In this note we have indicated the value which the international
scientific community places on the excellent records published by
Iceland's public health authorities. We have chosen to illustrate
this from a recent study of measles. This disease represents only
one of a complex series of 32 diseases that are recorded with varying
degrees of completeness in Heilbrigðisskýrslur. Figure 7 plots the
monthly distribution for measles and three other infectious diseases
for the period 1901 to 1974. The pattern for German measles is an
irregular one, with four very small outbreaks up to World War II and
four very large ones subsequently. That for whooping cough is for
more regularly spaced epidemics to occur at about five-year intervals,
with a substantial peak in 1935. The influenza pattern shows the
highest frequency; there is a winter or spring peak in every year from
1918 onwards.
The spatial and temporal patterns of these and other diseases raise
important questions for further research. How far do the significant
differences in timing and amplitude of epidemic waves relate to their
geographical pattern of incidence and spread? Do the different virus
strains in the case of influenza have different spread patterns
related to the susceptibility of different age groups? Does the
experience of measles give any guide to the behaviour of other epidemic
diseases? Has the change in Iceland's internal and external accessibilit
particularly from the early 1940s onwards, had equivalent effects on all
infectious diseases? We suggest the Icelandic records are of exceptional
interest in these contexts.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Dr. Ólafur Ólafsson, Director General of Publich Health,
for his invitation to present this summary of our work. We set out on
pages ix-xi of the book (Cliff, et al., 1981) our deep appreciation of
the help and encouragement given to us by the many public bodies in
Iceland who made our research possible. Finally, the Nuffield Foundation
England, provided us with funds to visit Iceland in connection with the
work.
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