APPENDIX B
The Interdepartmental Agreement
An Agreement by the War and Navy Departments, the Federal
Security Agency, and State Health Departments on
Measures for the Control of the Venereal Diseases in Areas Where Armed Forces
or National Defense Employees are
Concentrated
It is recognized that the following services should be developed by State and local health and police authorities in cooperation with the Medical Corps of the United States Army, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the United States Navy, the United States Public Health Service, and interested voluntary organizations:
1. Early diagnosis and adequate treatment by the Army and the Navy of enlisted personnel infected with the venereal diseases.
2. Early diagnosis and treatment of the civilian population by the local health department.
3. When authentic information can be obtained as to the probable source of venereal disease infection of military or naval personnel [familial contacts with naval patients will not be reported], the facts will be reported by medical officers of the Army or Navy to the State or local health authorities as may be required. If additional authentic information is available as to extramarital contacts with diseased military or naval personnel during the communicable stage, this should also be reported.
4. All contacts of enlisted men with infected civilians to be reported to the medical officers in charge of the Army and Navy by the local or State health authorities.
5. Recalcitrant infected persons with communicable syphilis or gonorrhea to be forcibly isolated during the period of communicability; in civilian populations, it is the duty of the local health authorities to obtain the assistance of the local police authorities in enforcing such isolation.
6. Decrease as far as possible the opportunities for contacts with infected persons. The local police department is responsible for the repression of commercialized and clandestine prostitution. The local health departments, the State Health Department, the Public Health Service, the Army, and the Navy will cooperate with the local police authorities in repressing prostitution.
7. An aggressive program of education both among enlisted personnel and the civilian population regarding the dangers of the venereal diseases, the methods for preventing these infections, and the steps which should be taken if a person suspects that he is infected.
8. The local police and health authorities, the State Department of Health, the Public Health Service, the Army, and the Navy desire the assistance of representatives of the American Social Hygiene Association or affiliated social hygiene societies or other voluntary welfare organizations or groups in developing and stimulating public support for the above measures.
