[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Edinburgh City.

  • Edinburgh (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Edinburgh City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    152/274 (page 144)
    In co-operation with the Department of Agriculture for Scotland two organised schemes in the Suburban and Leith areas of the City were successfully carried through. This involved the inspection of 490 premises, and destruction work was undertaken by the Department of Agriculture’s rat-catchers in 106 cases, resulting in a kill of 7,254 rats. Concurrently with the Leith scheme 52 sewers were treated and it was estimated that 950 rats were destroyed. The co-operation of the occupiers in the premises where treatment was found necessary was excellent and of great value in carrying out the work. The following Table gives a complete summary of the work carried out in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture :— Premises inspected ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 619 Premises treated by Department of Agriculture rat-catchers ... 235 Number of black rats trapped ... ... ... ... ... 1,187 Number of brown rats trapped ... ... ... ... ... 7,080 Number of rats poisoned or gassed ... ... ... ... 3,559 Total number of rats destroyed ... ... ... ... ... 11,826 Total poison baits laid ... ... ... ... ... ... 7,335 Disinfestation of Bug-Infested Houses. Experiments which were commenced in 1947 were completed in September 1948. The objects of the experiments were to ascertain the effectiveness of various insecticides, having regard to the ease of application, safety, cost and the concentration required to give satisfactory results. The insecticides used were 5 per cent. D.D.T. in Kerosene, 3 per cent. D.D.T. Water Emulsion and 0*35 per cent. Gammexane. During the period from 1st January to 31st May, 1,640 houses were inspected. The number of apartments in which infestations were found was 285. Re- inspection of apartments which w'ere treated with insecticides was carried out monthly over a period of three months. The results of the experiments were very encouraging. The total number of apartments treated was 875. Of this number only 12 apartments were found to be still infested when inspected three months after treatment and three of them were regarded as very heavily infested before disinfestation was attempted. It has been possible to “ follow up ” most of the treated apartments over a more extended period, varying from six to nine months after spraying, and only 10 others were found to have been re-infested in that time. The rooms in which live bugs were found were re-sprayed with 5 per cent. D.D.T. in Kerosene and, when inspected one month later, no evidence of actual infestation was found in any of them. They will be kept under observation for a further period. In order that bug-infestations should be kept under proper control, it was decided that permanent arrangements for the inspection and spraying of bug- infested houses should be made. This control was considered to be of particular importance when viewed in relation to the Corporation housing activities. The operation of the scheme will require only the sendees of one spraying officer, as most of the work of inspection will be done by the District Sanitary Inspectors of the existing staff.