The dual objectives of the morbidity reporting system, (1) immediate recognition of communicable disease as it occurs in the population and, (2) compilation of data for administrative planning and epidemiological analysis, although w ell known, often fail to be adequately considered in discussions of morbidity reporting problems among epidemiologist, statisticians , administrative health officers, and others who use the d a ta for one purpose or another. The public health nurse has the individual case as her primary interest» the statistician and public health administrator give first attention to population differences in incidence, and the epidemiologist, although vitally interested in all aspects of reporting, often cannot give the long range functions of reporting the attention they deserve.

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