HEALTH PRECAUTIONS.

Shannon News, 31 December 1929, Page 3

HEALTH PRECAUTIONS.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST FLIES.

(Issued hy the Department of Public Health.)

A Ispecial appeal is made by tlie Health Department this year for the taking of precautions against summer sickness and in this connection a campaign against house flies is recommended on the lines of the article here published, p PREVENTION. Cleanliness.—Manure heaps of refuse should not exist near dwellings. Keep 'all garbage in metal receptacles, and keep covered continuously with tight-fitting fid. Leave nothing lying about which is likely to attract flies. Remember that if nothing more attractive is offering flies will breed in any decaying material. If there is a pan closet, a half-cupful of "blue oil" or kerosene should, be placed in the pan once a day—flies dislike kerosene. The opening in the seat should be provided with a hinged lid and the lid kept closed always except when the closet is in use.

Flies should not be allowed access to the sick room, especially infections diseases. All discharges from the sick should be immediately destroyed by boiling or fire, or place in a disinfectant solution, such as 1 part of carbolic acid, lysol, or formalin, to 19 parts water. These are particularly necessary in typhoid fever, dysentery or diarrhoea. , Babies' napkins should be placed in water or disinfectant solution immecl: iately after removal. They should never be allowed to lie about.-

Persons suffering from consumption should not spit about, and their sputum should not be allowed exposure to flies.

Never allow a fly to come in contact with any article of food—protect milk especially, also sugar, jam, cakes, etc.

Paraffin is -particularly distasteful to flies; a few drops sprinkled in dustbins, after they are emptied are effectual, and a rag damped with parafin and passed round window frames will keep flies away. DESTRUCTION OF ADULT FLIES.

1. Tanglefoot.—Papers coated with this composition are, nowadays, procurable almost everywhere, either in the form of sheets, or narrow strips intended for suspension. For use during the day. the former are generally preferable, and are said to be most effective when curved into the shape of an arch. It is sometimes advantageous to make a supply of tanglefoot for oneself, since its manufacture is quite easy, and once made it can be kept indefinitely in a closed tin and used as required! • The -best ingredients are castor 1 oil arid powdered resin, which are into . tanglefoot by weighing out five parts of the former and eight parts of the -latter, and heating the 'twjo together untiA (the resin is entirely'dissolved.. There is no advantage in allowing the mixture to boil; for use it should be applied as thinly as possible while hot, or after being heated, to the surfaces that it is intended to coat. The latter may include glazed paper (or paper coated with a solution of one ounce of ordinary glue in three ounces of water, applied with a fine brush all over the surface, and allowed to dry before the coating of tanglefoot is given; unglazed absorbent paper is useless); stout iron wires for suspension vertically in kitchens or latrines; horizontal': wires stretched across the interiors of din-ing-huts aljove bead level;., and the woodwork of temporary shelters in which flies are numerous. Vertical wires should be two or three feet in length, and should have one end bent over to form a hoo.k; they can then be suspended from a cord stretched across a room or window-opening. Naturally, tanglefoot is effective only so long as it remains "ta'cky"; tanglefootcoated surfaces which have become dry.or are covered with dust are absolutely useless. Should coated, vertical wires have a tendency to drip, this may be prevented by affixing to the lower end of each a small square of stout paper, crumpled so as. to form a rough cup. A wire which is covered with dea'd flies is readily cleansed by rubbing it vigorously with newspapsr or passing it through a fire, and can then be re-coated. {Austen—'' The House-Fly.") i 2. Sprays and Powders: —Some of the proprietary preparations on the market are effective in reducing the numbers of adult flies. The room should be closed whilst the preparation is used and the stupefied flies swept up and burned.

3.—Formalin:—ln the past this has 1 not always been effective but the use of lime water in' the mixture has increased the efficiency. To kill flies by means of formalin, mix together two 'tablespoonfuls of commercial (40 per cent.) formalin, on« heaped table-spoon-ful of sugar, half a pint of clear lime water, and water to make up one pint. It is advisable to, use lime water, in the proportion indicated since, as was discovered by Dr. LI. Lloyd, in tho Hygiene Department of the Eoyal Army Medical College, during the Great War, a solution of formalin in water otherwise soon becomes acid, and con sequently unattractive to flies. Tor use, it is best to place the mixture in a closed vessel, so as to shield it from the action of the air and to ensure that flies do not fall into it, since exposure to the air and pollution by the bodies of flies neutralise the lime water, and cause the fluid to become aci-?. The mixture may be poured into h tin, which is then closed by a lid perforated with holes, through which are passed wicks so arranged that their lower ends dip into the fluid. But perhaps an even simpler mode of employment is that which is described by Dr. Lloyd as follows:—"The poison is placed in a bottle, and the mouth is closed by means of a platform of absorptive material, from the centre of

i which a stem of the same material passes down into the fluid. The top is wetted with the fluid at the commence-, ment, and is kept wet by capillary at«traction. Such an- arrangement may easily be made from blotting paper. A circle of -the -,paper\two inches in diameter is cut-out, and a small slit is made in the centre. Two strips of paper of the*'samei width as the slit are then passed through it, and the ends are doubled outwards and downwards. The strips are then drawn down till the doubled back portions rest on the plat form, and the trap is ready for "use. This form of trap may be useU under cover or outside when it is not raining. The paper should be renewed every third or fourth day in any case!" Indoors formalin generally works best in the early morning, when, in kitchens, dining-rooms or offices, provided precautions be taken to ensure that no other sources of refreshment are accessible to house-flies, the insects may often be found dead in large numbers rouud the vessel used as a container. In Avann, dry weather, when there is no wind, formalin mixture can also be employed with good effect in the open air on the edges of manure heaps, near refuse bins, or in the vicinity of stables, kitchens, and latrines. Since formalin is poisonous to human ■beings, the mixture must be used with caution, and care must be taken to prevent it from being interfered with by children. 4. Flame: —In camps in which houseflies are abundant, the insects may often'be found at night sleeping in large numbers on overhead wires or hanging | cords. Under such conditions, they can readily be killed by burning them off by means of a brown paper torch, or a lump of cotton wool saturated with methylated spirit. ; 5. Petrol Fumes:—lf a soup plate, or similar shallow vessel, containing ,a

small quantity be passed beneath house flies resting as described in the foregoing paragraph, the insects are stupefied by the fumes, fall into the liquid and are killed. ' TREATMENT OF MANURE.

Needless" to say, manure presents the greatest attraction to flies and is the favourite breeding place. Method I.—Close Packing: For close packing (a method introduced in 1915 by Colonel S. A. Monckton Copeman, M.D., F.R.S., T.D., late Ministry of, Health), an area of hard, level ground, 1 at least three or four feet greater m •extent each way than the ultimate size of the intended dump, must be selected or prepared (the area may either be • cemented over, or receive a topdressing of 1 part—by volume —of mineral-wood-preserving oil, mixed with 4.0 parts of fine soil, the mixture being spread on the ground and beaten down; 1 gallon of oil will suffice for 100 square feet), to receive the manure. On this, each.day's manure is utilised in forming or adding to a compact reetanguiaiv.'block,'which may . be. of any desired dimensions horizontally, but for convenience of treatment should not exceed five feet in height. Each load of manure on being added to the dump must jbe pressed down firmly with shovels, and if the weather be dry should be sprinkled slightly with water; finally the sicles, which should be somewhat sloping, must be beaten and smoothed down with the shovel. While house-fly maggots are speedily killed at temperatures above 114.8 deg. F., ; :t was found" by Colonel Copeman thai, four inches beneath the surface of a heap of fresh stable manure treated in this way, the heat produced by fermentation may be "as much as 169 deg. F. It should be noted that the .fertilising value of close packed is greater than that of loosely stacked manure. The success of close packing as a preventive of house-fly breeding in horsehlanure has been proved in England, and, with certain modifications and additions, the method has been found effective in the warmer climate of Bermuda. In the event of failure from, some unforeseen cause the portion of the dump (both sides and top) in which maggots arc seen should be covered over with a layer of sacking (old coal sa-eks, if without holes, answer well), soaked in heavy oil and secured by means of large stones; the sacking need only be allowed to remain for one week, after which if required it may be employed on another part of the dump. (Austen —"The House-Fly.")

Method 2.—Turning over the surface: The area on which the clump is placed should be similar to that described above under "close packing," the dump itself should be kept compact and flat-topped, but need not have its surface beaten down; the slope of the sides should not exceed 30 cleg.- Each part of the dump, on the day after deposition and on the two following days, should be turned over with spades in such a manner as to bury the outer layer five or six inches deep, thus exposing the maggots, if present, to the almost instantly fatal effects of the heat and gases of fermentation at deeper levels. The method is somewhat laborious, but, to be effective, must be carried out conscientiously; if necessary, it may be supplemented by the use of oiled sacking, as already detailed. (Austen—" The House-Fly.") Method 3.—Sodium Arsenite—the Arsenate is useless. This poisons both larvae arid adult fly:— lib. Sodium Arsenite. 12 lbs treacle. 5 gallons water. Since sodium arsenite is not readily soluble in cold water, it should be dissolved in a little boiling water and added to the sweet solution.

For use, mix i pint of the above mixture with four parts water. The best method of application is for the horse manure to be thoroughly sprayed on the floor of the stable before being gathered up; the manure to be gathered up at least once daily. The surface of the manure in the bin may be sprayed as a final dose. It is not neccssary.to cover the bin; in fact it i 3 better left open to act as an attraction and fly trap. Any soiled

portions of the stable floor should afeo be sprayed. It should be remembered that where manure is sprayed in bulk every portion of it should be thorough • ly forked over and exposed to the spray. In default of a spr&y the liquid may be applied by dipping a straw bottle sleeve in the liquid and shaking it over the manure whilst agitating. No injury to manurial value. The solution is highly poisonous and is, therefore, not suitable for use in private houses. As an aid in distinguishing it may b-s coloured with a pinch of methylene blue.

This method is the method of choice for use at stables, garbage tips, and nightsoil depots. In addition to spraying, bits of coarse cloth are hung so as to dip into tins of this solution, fresh water being added from time to time, to keep the level of the solution in the tins about the same, as flies dislike it when it has been allowed to'get too strong, owing to the evaporation of the water. The solution can also be sprayed on leafy branches of trees and .then distributed and hung about. Places where flies congregate after sundown should be sprayed every evening. ••

For indoor use in small quantities, 1 gramme (151 grains) of sodium arsenite is dissolved, by aid of heat, in 34 ounces of water, to which two heaped tea-spoonfuls of sugar should be added: the attractiveness of the solution to flies will be enhanced if beer oe substituted for water. The mixture can either be exposed on pads of cotton wool in tin trays (in which case a pad, once impregnated, can be made to do duty for a week or more by mo.stening it as it becomes dry), or placed in closed tins provided with wicks. (Austen— "The JHouse-F&y. 1 ") | _ . Householders who obtain an occasional load of manure will find spraying (not surface spraying merely) with "Lotol" of use and then buryijng. The "Lotol" is expensive, however. REMEMBER: That fly larvae will develop in untreated manure buried'at least 15 inches., .. < \so-;--s , .-■ Sheep dips a|#* "useless. ' Chloride of lime is useless.