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
Lewisham 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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Table 18
| Location | No. of properties* | No. of base points | Prebaiting | Poison bait | Estimated rats killed | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of days on which prebait laid | Results | Amount laid (ozs.) | Amount token (ozs.) | ||||||
| Takes | Partial takes | No evidence | |||||||
| Heather Road | 29 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 46 | 23 | 54 | |
| Heather Road (re-treatments) | 5 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 10 | 15 |
| Baring Road | 9 | 9 | 4 | 4 | - | 5 | 16 | 10 | 25 |
| Baring Road (re-treatments) | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | - | 12 | 6 | 13 |
| Burnt Ash Hill | 13 | 4 | 4 | - | 1 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Ashwater Road | 6 | 4 | 3 | - | 19 | 6 | 5 | 12 | |
| Ashwater Road (retreatments) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Woodyates Road | 17 | 52 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 98 | 64 | 125 |
| Kellerton Road | 8 | 26 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 44 | 21 | 52 |
| Chinbrook Road | 8 | 31 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 62 | 15 | 15 |
| Pearfield Road | 6 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| Hillcrest Road | 8 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 34 | 8 | 20 |
"Included in Table 17.
In his report on rodent control work during 1952, Mr. Walker,
the senior sanitary inspector, states:—
"This section continues to deal with a steady flow of complaints
and requests for assistance. It will be seen that, in the aggregate, the
figures do not show a great difference from those of last year. The work
generally was in connection with minor infestations, no infestation of
a major character being discovered.
"Hen runs are often the focal point of many infestations, and the
choice and use of poison in these cases has to be carefully considered.
This is where the new poison Warfarin is particularly useful, as it is
unlikely that a domestic animal would consume a fatal dose. The
principal poison in use is still zinc phosphide, with Warfarin now
a close second.
"The increase in the number of infestations dealt with in
rivers and ditches in the borough was in some measure due to the
operatives spending more time on this particular work during the
winter months. The work in this respect becomes increasingly
difficult owing to the increase of vegetation and other obstacles in
the rivers."