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
Sutton and Cheam 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Sutton and Cheam]
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Methods employed In clearing 437 premises of rats and mice,
Poison baits 414
Trapping 19
Gassing 57
Rat and Mouse proofing 8
Accumulations removed 1
Other means 2
501
B - SEWER TREATMENTS
(1) Second Maintenance Treatment (1951-1952). The second
maintenance treatment of soil sewer-manholes found to be Infested
during the 10% test baiting (1951-52) and all manholes In the
sections affected was completed on the 15th March, 1952.
Prebaitlng with damped sausage rusks was carried out on two
consecutive days and the same bait base with 2£% Zinc Phosphide
added was laid on the third day with the following results:-
SECTIONS
| A | C | D | E | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Manholes prebalted | 42 | 78 | 89 | 91 | 300 |
| Complete prebalt takes | 3 | 32 | 14 | 3 | 52 |
| Partial prebalt takes | 1 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 22 |
| Percentage of takes (C and P.T.) | 9.5 | 44.8 | 19.1 | 19.7 | 24.6 |
| Number of manholes poison baited | 10 | 46 | 27 | 40 | 123 |
The number of pre-bait takes shew a decrease of 16.7% on
the previous maintenance treatment.
(2) Test Baiting (1952-53). The Borough was divided Into
five sections, as in previous tests, and a test baiting of 10%
of the soll-sewer manholes was carried out during the month of
August, The percentage of takes was a little higher than in the
10% test of last year.
The following Is a tabulated summary of the results
achieved: -
SECTION
| A | B | C | D | E | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of manholes baited | 25 | 31 | 48 | 65 | 32 | 201 |
| Complete bait takes | 16 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 5 | 49 |
| Partial bait takes | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | - | 12 |
| Baits not taken | 7 | 28 | 39 | 39 | 27 | 140 |
(3) First Maintenance Treatment (1952-53). This treatment
was confined to the areas known to have been Infested during the
previous maintenance treatment together with the whole of the
areas proved to be Infested by the annual 10% Test. It entailed
baiting a much larger number of soil sewer manholes than In
previous treatments and resulted in a higher number of takes.
27