seeking skilled treatment in the early stages when it is likely to
be most effective.

(2.) Treatment applied after exposure to infection. This is called
"early treatment." This term is inapplicable, as a disease cannot
be treated before it exists. It is also likely to be confused with
"abortive treatment," which implies treatment immediately on the
appearance of symptoms.

The evidence before the Committee shows that this form of
prophylaxis, if applied by skilled persons and within a few hours
of exposure, is effective in preventing disease in a great majority
of the cases in which it is used.

The Inter-departmental Committee on Infectious Diseases set up by the
Ministry of Health in 1919 in connection with demobilization, in a note
on "Prophylaxis against venereal disease," reported among its
conclusions based on service experience, "That where preventive
treatment is provided by a skilled attendant after exposure to infection
the results are better than when the same measures are taken by the
individual affected, even after the most careful instruction." After
exposure to infection there appears no reason why these diseases should
not be regarded in precisely the same manner as other infectious
diseases, and precautions taken to sterilize the parts which have been
exposed to infection.

It is to be noted that it is recommended that the prophylactic treatment
is to be carried out by some properly instructed person. This need not
necessarily be a medical man. It is suggested that this form of
prophylaxis might be carried out by an orderly at the venereal-disease