Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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In addition to the cleansing of persons referred to above
the number of articles of personal clothing disinfested at the
Medicinal Baths during the year was 34,436.
Disinfection and Disinfestation.
A summary of the routine work of the disinfecting staff is shown in the following table:-
| Houses disinfected after infectious disease | 533 |
| Houses disinfested after vermin | 259 |
| Loads of furniture treated with hydrogen cyanide | 159 |
Total weight of furniture, bedding, etc., dealt with:261
tons, 2 cwt., 1 quarter.
Verminous Houses - Treatment by D.D.T.
On 1st April, 1946, an experimental scheme for the
eradication of bugs in dwelling houses, involving the use of
dichloro-diphenyl-trichlorethane (D.D.T.) was put into operation.
This substance had hitherto been reserved exclusively for use by
the Armed Forces. The work is being observed by officials of
the Ministry of Health.
In addition to D.D.T. in 2and 5$ solutions, a similar
compound known as Gammexane has been used as a disinfestant.
Further, a number of rooms have been treated with D.D.T. and
Gammexane "smokes". In order to estimate the lethal effects of
these preparations, lethane has been used as a "control disinfestant"
in a number of cases.
Actual spraying in connection with the experiment was
suspended on 9th December, 1946, after a total of 4,953 rooms had
been treated in the following manner:-
1,334 rooms treated with 5% D.D.T.
1,164 ,, ,, ,, 2½ D.D.T.
1,196 ,, ,, ,, 0.35% Gammexane.
53 ,, ,, ,, "smokes".
1,206 ,, ,, ,, Lethane.
The work of collating the results, involving re-inspect ions
of the rooms, is now proceeding and until this is finished it is
impossible to arrive at a final conclusion. The preliminary
results indicate, however, that D.D.T. used in a 5% solution
appears to give better results than any other disinfestant used
by the Council in the past. It is hoped to have the final
conclusions by the end of the summer of 1947 .
Destruction of Rats and Mice.
The work of complying with the "directions" served on the Council by the Ministry of Food under the Infestation Order, 1943, continued during the year and the following table gives a summary:-
| Complaints received | 1,025 | |
| Premises inspected following complaint | 1,445 | |
| Premises where rats were found | 601 | |
| Premises where mice were found | 243 | |
| Premises where other vermin were found | 82 | |
| Premises where no infestation existed | 519 | |
| Total number of visite to all premises | 7,558 | |
| Total number of notices served | 123 | |
| Premises successfully treated | 730 | |
| Case in which advice was given | 51 | |
| Borough Council properties dealt with | 45 | |