[Mortality trends in Switzerland. 2. Infectious diseases 1876-1977].

An analysis has been made of the evolution in Switzerland of mortality due to the main infectious diseases ever since causes of death began to be registered. Mortality due to tuberculosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles, typhoid, puerperal fever and infant gastro-enteritis started to fall long before the introduction of immunization and/or antibiotics. This decline was probably due to a great extent to various factors linked to the steady rise in the standard of living: qualitative and quantitative improvements in nutrition; better public and personal hygiene; better housing and working conditions and improvements in education. Immunization has probably been decisive in the eradication of smallpox and poliomyelitis and for the reduction in mortality from tetanus. The introduction of sulfonamides and antibiotics was associated with the beginning of the decline in mortality from non-meningococcal meningitis, otitis and appendicitis and with a more pronounced decline in mortality from pneumonia and acute rheumatic fever. Finally, mortality from syphilis started to decline a few years after the introduction of Salvarsan.