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215
Disinflation of Verminous Premises
Dieldrin Concentrate continues to give good results in dealing
with verminous premises.
During the year the department dealt with 105 cases of dirty
and verminous premises, and the disinfestation staff sprayed 318
rooms and contents. In one case the bedding and effects were
removed to the Council's disinfecting station for treatment by steam
or formaldehyde.
Of other pests which necessitated the treatment of rooms and
external areas, the following initiated the greater number of complaints.
Ants.—Ants carry no disease but their presence in human
foodstuffs is objectionable.
Foods of a relatively high sugar content are particularly attractive to ants and the insects are prepared to go to great lengths in
order to obtain a sufficiency for their community.
In the main, the 67 complaints received concerned either the
black garden ant (Lasius niger) or the yellow meadow ant
(L. flavis), the workers of which will gain access to houses through
cracks in the walls or floors, over sills or through window frames
in search of food. Sixty-one treatments involving 136 rooms and
39 external areas were carried out to combat the reported nuisances.
Only one complaint was received during the current year
concerning one of the commonest of ants, the very small red House
or Pharaoh's ant (Monomorium pharaonis), which resulted in the
treatment of 2 rooms.
This species, being of tropical origin, is incapable of breeding
m England without artificial heat. A temperature of approximately
80°F. is considered to be ideal for its propagation and ipso facto it
is found infesting bakehouses, restaurants, hospitals and houses,
especially in larders and kitchens, and nests may be found behind
wall plasters, behind pipes or ovens, in heating ducts and under
floor coverings and foundations.
Cockroaches.—The cockroach (Blatta orientalis) and its
smaller relative (Blattella germanica) are well known for their
destructiveness, especially in relation to stored organic matter,
ranging from foodstuffs to book bindings. Food is rendered repulsive from contamination not only with their faeces but also with the
secretion from their scent glands, and the cockroach is strongly
suspected of transmitting to man a number of pathogenic organisms
especially those of an enteric nature.