Annual report of the Director of Public Health of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.

  • United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (India). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1927]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Director of Public Health of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    my report for 1826 and its general adoption by the district medical officers of health for notified areas and villages throughout the Province re¬ commended. It has proved as useful for the breeding places of A. macul- atus A. willmori, A. minimus and A. listoni in the Tarai as for A, culicifacies in the plains, and has the advantages of requiring no semi¬ skilled labour and of k ing remarkably effective in dealing with marshes and seepage areas even if sown in a very haphazard way. The statement that it has no effect on culex would appear to require further investigation, as certain species of these larvae apparently also die off. With the excep¬ tion of the fact that no weeding or jungle cutting is required when using paris-green—in fact tlie presence of algae would appear to enhance its value as a larvicide — the cost of using aceto-arsenite ol copper at the price obtaining in India is not much less than the cost involved in oiling* Against this the method of spreading by throwing a 1 per cent, mixture of fiaris-green and dry road dust into the air has been used and this is admittedly much more costly than spreading it by blowers. The supplies obtained in India are not guaranteed to contain 50 per cent, of arsenic and it would appear necessary to import stocks in bulk from Europe under a guarantee of strength and fineness. The intervals at which paris-green required spreading to control breed¬ ing effectively in the Tarai was once every seven days from the end of September to the end of November and from March to June and once every fortnight from December to February. The seven days intervals in the warmer months could be extended to nine days were it not lor the fact that breeding occurs in the small streams which originate in seepage outcrops. The dust used must be absolutely dry or irregular results are obtained. The laying down of the permanent anti-malaria drains recommended by Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. S. Phillips, I.M.S., to deal with the marshes between the afflux bund, the canal and the cliff at Banbassa was com¬ menced this autumn and the low area will subsequently be levelled to abolish breeding places. The cost is approximately Ks. 40,000 and a system of sub-soil drainage by agricultural pipes draining into an open masonry drain of the concrete semi circular invert type used in Panama is being adopted. These open drains will cease a little below the syphon constructed under the canal in 1924 and the method to be adopted to clear this drain and marsh beyond the syphon is still under consideration. The other permanent measure of anti-malarial importance was the laying down of a pucca drain down the centre of the canal from the headworks to the syphon. This was completed in the beginning of the year the drain being laid more deeply than the kachcha drain which it replaced as was recommended. This and the subsequent levelling of the canal bed has abolished breeding places in this area. The carrying out of these two permanent measures has entirely altered the malarial problem in Banbassa and greatly simplified it. Fumigation of dwellings.—Fumigation of buildings by burning sulphur and kachcha tobacco at regular intervals has been advised this year. This very effective method of clearing dwellings of anophelines is of the greatest importance especially in the early part of the working season alter the rains, but is distinctly unpopular with Certain classes