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SECTION X - OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF MALARIA ON SHIPS
Seventeen cases of malaria (5 passengers and 12 crew) were reported on ships during the
year under review. This is the same number as in 1958.
One passenger and five crew were admitted to hospital on arrival in London; all other cases
had recovered.
A Notice giving advice on the General Precautions and Treatment of Malaria is issued by the
Ministry of Transport and should be on board every British ship. The text of this Notice was
reproduced in my Annual Report for 1958.
MOSQUITO CONTROL AT ISLE OF GRAIN
Mr. P.A. Traynier, the Port Health Inspector, stationed at the Isle of Grain, has reported as
follows
Mosquito control activities were again in progress within the perimeter of the B.P. Refinery
during the breeding season of 1959. As in past years the field work has been carried out by a
"Mosquito Control Operator" attached to the Medical Department of the B.P. Company. Weekly
meetings have been attended with the Refinery Medical Officer and the Operator, and a very high
standard of control has been reached.
This has been achieved by the use of a larvicidal treatment of dieldrin but we also have
been very fortunate in having had a very dry summer which has allowed nearly all the temporary
water collections to dry up and so make the work of the operator very much easier.
There was only one finding of Anopheles this season; this was in a small pool and was
Anopheles claviger. No adult species were found. The saltmarsh mosquito larva was prevalent,
as is to be expected in a coastal area, but prompt action was taken and very few adults caused us
any trouble.
A large increase was noted in larval infestations of Theobaldia annulata, which were dealt
with as discovered, and once again the adults did not cause any concern. This being a domestic
species, it could with advantage be attacked during hibernation but this might prove a costly
process, and it could well be thatthe eggs laid within the refinery are from adults which have
been in hibernation outside the perimeter, areas over which we have no control.
For many years Mr. P.G. Shute of the Malaria Reference Laboratory, has advocated the filling
in of some disused gravel pits, which are situated adjacent to Grain village, as these have been
prolific mosquito breeding grounds for a very loug time. At present some of this work is in progress
and this fact alone will have a very noticeable effect on the mosquito density on the Grain
peninsula.
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 hoMs 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."
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