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54
scabies, and the remainder (2,089) were verminous. These
children attended from the Public Elementary Schools in
Battersea by arrangement with the London County Council as
the Education Authority, who have entered into a contract with
the Borough Council for the use of the facilities provided at the
Personal Cleansing Station. The work of cleansing and treatment
is supervised by the County Council's officers. Steps are
taken while the children are being cleansed and treated to
sterilise their clothing at the Disinfecting Station adjoining.
The homes of children cleansed are also visited by the Borough
Council's Sanitary and Health Visiting Staff, and where the
houses or the bedding, clothing, etc., are found verminous,
measures are taken to cleanse the homes, and the infected
articles of bedding and clothing are collected and removed to
the Disinfection Station for stoving.
In December the Council provisionally approved of a plan
for a proposed new cleansing station on the Council's land in
Sheepcote Lane at an approximate cost of £2,300. It is to be
hoped this building will soon be erected, as the existing
accommodation is found to be inadequate and otherwise
unsuitable.
Disinfecting Department.
During 1919 1,466 premises were disinfected by the
Council's Disinfecting Staff. A total of 2,077 cases of
notifiable infectious diseases was reported and dealt with during
the year. In addition to these, a large amount of disinfection
was carried out in connection with non-notifiable infectious
diseases reported by school-teachers and others. Verminous
rooms, bedding and articles of clothing, as will be seen from
the subjoined summary, were dealt with to a very considerable
extent by the Disinfecting Staff.
Summary of Work carried out at the Disinfecting
Department during 1919.
Premises 1,466
Rooms 2,390
House drains flushed 1,180
Schools disinfected (89 rooms) 35
Bedding lent 168
Mattresses and palliasses tabbed 1,617
Number of articles disinfected 40,566
Number of articles destroyed 809
Library books collected 111
Number of articles laundered 27,370
Verminous clothing 28,640
The laundry attached to the disinfecting station, which
was added in 1907, continues to do most useful work.