Prevention is better than cure

Abstract

The history of the control of infectious disease reflects the balance between our understanding of the nature of infection, the mechanisms of host resistance and the available technology to deliver an intervention. However, behind this 'biomedical' construct lies a deeper set of issues which embody serendipity, public understanding, and population-based intervention and its acceptability by the wider community, often complicated by the decisions and subsequent vacillations of policymakers. © Royal College of Physicians, 2009. All rights reserved.