[Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Staines U.D.C.

  • Staines (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Staines U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    38/40 (page 32)
    Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949. As in former years the majority of infestations dealt with arose from the keeping of pigs or domestic poultry. I am satisfied that if all those who are responsible for keeping animals and poultry would adopt a higher standard of hygiene, take more care of feeding arrangements and see to the removal of all rubbish, far less trouble would be experienced from rat breeding. It was not considered necessary to test bait the Council’s sewers in view of the lack of infestation disclosed by test baiting over several years. Three notices were served under the Act requiring the carrying out of works to prevent harbourage of rats. The following is a summary of inspections and treatments carried out: Number of properties inspected ... ... 1984 Number of properties found to be infested by rats or mice ... ... ... ... 792 Number of dwelling houses treated for rats and mice ... ... ... ... 733 Number of other premises treated ... ... 63 Total number of visits and revisits ... ... 1989 Other Pests. The advice of the Council’s Inspectors continued to be sought in connection with various types of insect pests, and every effort is made to provide advice on the correct treatment to eradicate a particular pest. The first step is to identify the insect and when the less well known ones are encountered the advice of the Entomo¬ logical Section of the British Museum is sought and freely given. There were a number of complaints of infestation of dwelling houses by the gooseberry mite. This is a tiny mite which invaded newly built houses in the early summer and was present in countless numbers. Treatment was prolonged and difficult but usually the mites disappeared in two to five weeks.