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24
PUBLIC HEALTH (TUBERCULOSIS) REGULATIONS, 1911.
The Local Government Board recently issued an Order, which comes into
operation on the 1st May, 1911, embodying further Regulations to provide for the
notification of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis occurring amongst the in-patients
or out-patients at hospitals, or other similar institutions for the treatment of the
sick, which are supported wholly or partially otherwise than by the contributions
of the patients (or of their relatives or guardians) and otherwise than from rates
and taxes.
REGULATIONS AS TO PLAGUE.
Destruction of Rats.
On account of complaints respecting the prevalence of rats in some parts
of the Borough I was requested to report on the matter. In this report I
pointed out not only are rats the chief agents in the spread of bubonic plague
by means of rat fleas and also of other diseases such as trichinosis, but they
also do an enormous amount of damage to property. The following recommendations
were adopted:—
(1.) That inquiries be made at all premises in the Borough, beginning
with those likely to harbour rats, and notices served under The
London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, where necessary.
(2.) That notices be served for all defective receptacles for food
refuse, and the importance emphasised of their being properly covered.
(3.) That notices be issued emphasising the importance of having
all food stuffs kept covered and inaccessible to rats as far as practicable.
In November, 1910, the Local Government Board issued regulations providing
that in any district in which a representation is made to the Local
Authority that rats in the district are infected or threatened with plague, or
that there is an unusual mortality among rats in the district, the Local
Authority shall report the matter to the Local Government Board, and shall
take measures for the destruction of the rats and for preventing their entrance
into buildings and other premises in the district.
The Memorandum prepared by the Medical Officer of the Local Government
Board dealing with the subject was also considered.
Although there had been a somewhat extensive infection of rats in parts
of East Suffolk accompanied by a few human cases, and a few infected rats
had been discovered in the London Docks, it was felt there was no reason
for any alarm or for believing that there was any infection among the rats in
the Borough, and no further action was therefore considered necessary, at
least for the present.