London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

Hillingdon 1971

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]

This page requires JavaScript

to notify rodent infestations and the importance of properly containing waste food which might
prove an attraction.
Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949 places an obligation on certain
occupiers of land (not including agricultural land) to notify the local authority in writing of the
presence of rats and mice. This provision would be invaluable if occupiers fulfilled their obligations
as it would enable the authority to ensure that effective action was taken, not only in respect of
that property but also adjacent properties which might be involved. It was necessary to draw the
attention of a number of firms to this requirement as, although they had arranged for rodent control
specialists to treat their premises, their failure to notify the fact meant that this was carried out
in isolation.
Mice Infestations—Schools and Hospitals
Repeated complaints were received concerning mice infestation in certain schools. The
mice were found in some classrooms, domestic science rooms and school meals kitchens. Treatment
was carried out by poisoning and trapping. The poisoning campaign had to be modified
for various reasons such as:
(1) Risk of contamination of food.
(2) Non-effectiveness of certain types of poison at temperatures of 65°F.
(3) Apparent resistance by the mice.
A serious infestation of mice and cockroaches occurred in one of the hospitals. The infestation
with mice was treated by the department and in order to deal with the cockroaches the department
took advantage of an offer by one of the larger insecticide firms to carry out experimental treatment.
This, together with the follow up treatment, successfully cleared the infestation. Details of the rodent
infestations found during the year are given below:

Properties other than sewers

Type of Property
Non-agriculturalAgricultural
1. Number of properties in district91,095102
2. (a) Total number of properties (including adjacent premises) inspected following notification2,0766
(b) Number infested by (i) Rats1,3023
(ii) Mice4713
3. (a) Total number of properties inspected for rats and mice for reasons other than notification1,80453
(b) Number infested by (i) Rats1312
(ii) Mice124

Sewers
Treatment of main sewers was concentrated on five areas in Ruislip and Uxbridge, where
194 inspection chambers were test baited and 34 found to be infested. In addition, 16 chambers
of a branch sewer on a housing estate were found to be infested and subsequently treated.
The use of single dose poison fluoracetamide was adopted later in the year. This allows a
considerable saving in manpower as each treatment requires only a single lifting of the manhole
covers.
Squirrels and Foxes
Squirrels continue to be the subject of complaint, and during the year 59 such complaints
were received from members of the public. The majority of these related to squirrels in lofts or
chimney stacks and in several cases damage was caused to the building fabric due to the gnawing
of timbers, electric cables, water pipes, plastic rainwater guttering, etc. There were also instances
97