London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Bethnal Green 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Bethnal Green Borough]
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67
SHELTER FOR CONTACTS.
(3, St. James Road).
These premises consisting of a nine-room house,
are occupied by a caretaker and are available, as
required by statute, for the accommodation of contacts
of infectious disease during the disinfection of
premises. The shelter was used during the year.
DISINFECTION SERVICE.
During the year, 1,670 rooms and 37,963 articles
were disinfected for various reasons.
Two Morris motor vans are used for conveying
articles for routine disinfection, and an additional
steel body motor-van of the Dennis type is available
for special disinfestation purposes.
The table appended gives details of the rooms, bedding and clothing disinfected.
| No. of Rooms Disinfected | Articles of Clothing, etc., Disinfected by | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | Formalin | |||
| Infectious disease | 99 | 6,632 | 747 | |
| Scabies | 14 | 11,231 | 1 | |
| Verminous condition | 1,548 | 3,286 | ||
| Other conditions | 9 | 119 | 3 | |
| Hospital bedding | — | 13,304 | 560 | |
| 1,670 | 36,572 | 1,391 | ||
Number of articles destroyed by request, 219.
Quantity of furniture, bedsteads, etc. destroyed
by request, 10 tons 1 cwt. 2 qrs.
As reported last year, the routine disinfection of
rooms has been discontinued except for certain
diseases like Tuberculosis or other special circumstances.
On the other hand, the work of the staff in
the disinfestation of rooms, furniture and bedding
has greatly increased.