"The problem of reducing the incidence of venereal diseases has been given, rather unfairly, to the physician, whereas it is really a problem for the social scientist in that its solution lies in education," T. Guthe, MD, said at the close of the European Symposium on Venereal Disease Contral, held Sept 24-28 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Guthe, who is chief of the World Health Organization Section of Venereal Diseases and Treponematoses, said that only an active attack by the medical profession can explode the myth that the rising incidence in VD since 1959, notably among young people is a matter of chance and that it can be safely assumed it will decline as it has risen.
The symposium sought cooperation between European countries in bringing to bear the two important methods of VD control: