Veterinary Preventive Medicine

Abstract

<p>For centuries the clinical and "curative" conception of medicine has dominated medical thought and procedure, practically to the exclusion of all other phases of this great art and science. It has been so uppermost in the minds of most medical authorities until quite recently that they were and many are today almost entirely oblivious to other potent measures and practices that so materially contribute to the well-being of the animal organism. Thus our domain of service has been rather strictly confined to diagnosing, prescribing and administering to animals in which a pathological state actually exists. At the same time the major problems of prevention, control, suppression, and possible eradication of disease have been blissfully ignored. This condition still exists in spite of the fact that more than three-quarters of a century of scientific research with its wealth of dependable data and derived fundamental principles has established a sound basis for the field of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Today this should be as accurate a field of scientific endeavor as that of any other branch of veterinary medicine. Yet regrettably, the fact remains that applied scientific hygiene and preventive medicine have not kept abreast with the needs and trends of our profession.</p>