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The bug is introduced to a house in infested furniture, etc., and by migration from room
to room or house to house.
As to methods of extermination, repeated "spring cleaning" and inculcation of the
habit of cleanliness under supervision against half measures is a necessity. Discard of
useless articles, steam disinfection of bedding, fumigation of heavily-upholstered furniture,
detachment and cleansing of loose woodwork, repair of loose plaster-work and wall paper,
use of the steam jet or blow lamp in chinks or crevices, with the requisite knowledge and
perseverance, will prove successful. The sanitary officer's scope lies in knowledge, personality
and tact ; the process of continuous cleansing is for the tenants. Soap and water
used often and in plenty cannot be replaced as effective agents in destruction of bugs.
An atomised spray, containing paraffin as a base, is a useful supplement to the organised
scheme of cleansing.
Hydrocyanic acid fumigation requires a trained and responsible person for its use.
Furniture in transit might be thus treated in a van. Bedding and upholstery would require
long airing to free them from cyanide fumes. The method is too dangerous to be applied
in houses unless they are quite detached.
Sulphur fumigation (5 lbs. burned in 1,000 cubic feet of space) is sometimes effective if
repeated after three weeks against hatchments of unsterilised eggs.
Before a tenant moves to new premises, the present house should be thoroughly searched,
and if found infected, the tenants instructed, encouraged and helped to undertake a systematic
cleansing of their effects, as above. Infested furniture moved from house to house
is the most important channel of dissemination.
Thus the difficulties to be overcome in the case of the bed bug arise from the following
considerations:—
The customary hiding up and laying of eggs in more or less inaccessible crevices.
The feeding during the sleep of the host and return on engorgement to the fastnesses.
The long period during which the bed bug normally and abnormally abstains from food,
whether as young or adult.
The meticulous cleansing and persistence therein to be exercised in case of infestation.
The necessity for removal of woodwork and for repairs, which are beyond the province
of the tenant to effect, but not to cause.
The low level of cleanliness obtaining in many persons from age, infirmity, illness,
poverty or mere acquiescence in squalor.
factory and workshop act, 1901, &c.
Factories, Workshops and Workplaces.—The premises upon the Register number 3,755,
in which are included 8,256 workrooms, &c.
There were served 1,708 notices during the year for various purposes under the Acts.