View report page

25
(3) Lethane 384 Special in kerosene (10 per cent).—As recommended in
the monthly Bulletin of the Ministry of Health, March, 1944,
page 51.
(4) D.D.T. smoke from "Moskil" Insecticide Generators: No. 31
Mk.Y.—All the houses to be inspected at intervals after treatment
to determine the degree of success in eradicating bugs.
{b) Collaboration Arranged.
As before; and, in addition arrangements were made to provide an
outside operator and equipment to participate in the spraying; also Messrs.
Finn and Adams of Porton undertook to do all the smoke treatments.
(c) Methods Employed.
(1) Spraying.—After preliminary tests a continuous-action garden
syringe, the "Eclipse No. 1" sprayer with a fine nozzle was selected
as being most suitable for the task. The liquid to be sprayed was
put in a large container in the centre of the room and the suction
lead from the sprayer inserted. It was then possible to spray walls
and furniture with very little difficulty. Two or three bedrooms
were done in each house and about 400 square feet of walls,
furniture and mattresses were sprayed in each room. About J to 1
gallon of Spray was used per house (which corresponds to approximately
200 mgms. of D.D.T. per square foot).
The operators wore light anti-gas clothing, rubber gloves and
eye-shields.
(2) Smoke Treatment.—The procedure adopted was as follows:—
The occupants were evacuated from the rooms to be treated,
but allowed to remain in the same house. The windows and doors
of the rooms to be treated were closed and one generator was
ignited in the centre of each. One Moskil should release about
50 gms. of D.D.T. smoke: this compares with about 80 gms.
deposited by the spray treatment. After one hour, the rooms were
ventilated. Many of the buildings treated were very leaky and the
smoke dissipated more rapidly than was desirable, which may
detract from the effect of the treatment. There were no perceptible
traces left by the smoke except a very fine bloom on polished
surfaces.
If it is effective in eradicating bugs, the method has great
advantages in simplicity of equipment and ease of treatment.
(d) Progress.
The treatments were carried out on the 20th and 21st August. The
houses were re-inspected at approximately one week and three weeks later.
The results are shown in the table following. In this table, the original
degree of infestation is indicated as follows:—