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A good deal of work was done during the year 1956 some details of which are given below by
courtesy of Dr. W.D.L. Smith who directed the operations and who, in another capacity as an
Assistant Medical Officer is seconded by the British Petroleum Company to work for the Authority
as Boarding Medical Officer at Port Victoria on the Isle of Grain.
"Since the start of construction of the 'B.P. (Kent) Refinery Ltd.' at the Isle of Grain in
1950, attention has been focussed on this subject. The last epidemic of malaria in this
country developed at Grain in 1920 and mosquito infestation of that area including certain
species (Anopheline) capable of transmitting malaria has remained high.
"During the initial construction phase the labour force included some 2,000 residents in
an adjacent labour camp. A certain percentage of this force were ex-servicemen or coloured
immigrants who had recently been in parts of the world where malaria is endemic and who
might, therefore be capable of introducing an infection to a local population. That the
risk of transmission was real was evident from the number of employees requesting first aid
for mosquito bites.
"Mr. P.G. Shute, Deputy Director of the Malaria Reference Laboratory, Horton Hospital,
Epsom, drawing attention to this hazard demonstrated a large number of anopheline mosquitoes
in the sleeping quarters in the camp.
"Control measures were begun by the British Petroleum Company at an early stage of
construction to reduce the mosquito nuisance in the vicinity of the Refinery.
"The campaign, confined to the Refinery perimeter, was based on a treatment of all
areas of water where breeding was recognised, with a larvicide (Dieldrin) and succeeded in
demonstrating that a considerable degree of control can be achieved by purely local measures.
Mr. P.G. Shute and his assistant, Miss Maryon who carried out all larval identification and
in other ways monitored the campaign, paid tribute to the work of Mr. P.A. Traynier and the
Refinery field worker, Mr. G.H. Leport."
SECTION XI. — Measures taken against ships infected or suspected of Plague
The Fourth Schedule to the Public Health (Ships) Regulations, 1952, under the heading "Additional
measures in respect to the quarantinable diseases" — Part I — Plague, reads as follows:—
"(1) The Medical Officer may —
(a) require any suspect on board to be disinsected and place him under surveillance, the
period of surveillance being reckoned from the date of arrival of the ship;
(b) require the disinsecting and, if necessary, disinfection of the baggage of any infected
person or suspect, and of any other article on board and any part of the ship which the
medical officer considers to be contaminated.
(2) If there is rodent plague on board, the medical officer shall require the ship to be deratted
in a manner to be determined by him, but without prejudice to the generality of this requirement
the following special provisions shall apply to any such deratting —
(a) the deratting shall be carried out as soon as the holds have been emptied;
(b) one or more preliminary derattings of the ship with the cargo in situ, or during its unloading,
may be carried out to prevent the escape of infected rodents ;
(c) if the complete destruction of rodents cannot be secured because only part of the cargo is
due to be unloaded, a ship shall not be prevented from unloading that part, but the medical
officer may apply any measure which he considers necessary to prevent the escape of
infected rodents."
Plague being primarily a disease of rats all vessels are inspected immediately on arrival at
their berths in the docks and river for the presence of any mortality among the rats on board which
is not attributable to any known cause, such as trapping, poisoning, etc.
Incidentally one of the "Health Questions" on page 1 of the "Maritime Declaration of Health"
requires the Master to answer "Yes orNo" to the question "Has plague occurred or been suspected
amongst the rats or mice on board during the voyage, or ha.s, been thea an abnormal
mortality among them ?".
Any dead rats are immediately sent to the Central Public Health Laboratory at Colindale for
examination for bacillus pestis, each rat being accompanied by a label on which is given precise
information as to where the rat was found in order to arrive at a focus of infection should the
examination prove positive. This information, is, of course, far more vital when the rat has been
found ashore than when found on board a ship.
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