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14
Of the 12 private schools in the district scarlet fever occurred in
only 1 of them. No case of diphtheria occurred in any private school
in the Borough.
The incidence of infectious diseases amongst children of school
age was extremely low. It is very satisfactory to have been able to
restrict the numbers of cases of scarlet-fever and diphtheria amongst
a total of 2,600 school children on the public elementery school
registers to such small numbers as 13 scarlet-fever cases and 1
case of diphtheria during the year.
(13) ERADICATION OF BED BUGS.
Particulars are given below of action taken during the year in
the case of dwellings found on inspection to be bug-infested.
(i) Disinfestation of houses.
The number of infested houses dealt with was 24. Of this
number 16 were Council houses, and 8 were houses not owned by
the Council.
Disinfestation of the 16 Council houses was carried out by the
staff of the Public Health Department. Zaldecide was employed in
the case of all these houses.
In the case of the 8 houses in which disinfestation was carried
out by the owners, advice was given by officers of the Public Health
Department as to the most suitable action to be taken in each particular
case in dealing with the premises.
During 1939 hydrogen cyanide was not employed for the disinfestation
of any house.
(ii) Disinfestation of household effects (excluding bedding).
The number of families rehoused whose household effects were
disinfested by hydrogen cyanide in the course of removal during the
year are given below:—
Rehoused in Council houses:—
(i) From clearance areas 1
(ii) For the abatement of overcrowding 6
(iii) On general public health grounds 3
Total 10
Disinfestation of household effects by hydrogen cyanide in the
course of removal has in all cases been carried out by a contractor.