But a vaccine changed the course of medical history and made polio a preventable disease.

Scientists said last week that osteoarthritis was a preventable disease, rather than an inevitable consequence of wear and ageing.

All that can be done, should be done to protect troops against preventable disease.

And preventable diseases including malaria account for at least 60 per cent of its health problems.

While hatters seemed to regard the shakes as an inevitable price to pay for their work rather than a readily preventable disease, their employers professed ignorance of the problem.