Annual report of the Public Health Department of the City of Port-of-Spain.
- Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago). Public Health Department
- Date:
- [1938]
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: Annual report of the Public Health Department of the City of Port-of-Spain. Source: Wellcome Collection.
25/98 page 11
![Tuberculin testing of dairy cattle, a necessary preliminary to the granting of cowshed licences, shows that tuberculosis is a rare disease in the cattle of the City and of the outlying districts. Tuberculin Testing of Dairy Cattle. City. Out-districts. Total. No. of Cows Tuberculin Tested with Negative reaction .... .... 112 687 799 (2) Slaughterhouses. The new bye-laws with respect to the management of the Port-of-Spain Abattoir made under the provisions of Section 160 (3) of the Public Health Ordinance, Chapter 98, were passed by the City Council on the 23rd June, 1938, and received the approval of the Central Board of Health on the 7th dav of October, 1938. At the end of the year they were awaiting the confirmation of the Governor in Executive Council and this was done on the first day of February, 1939. Publication in the Royal Gazette took place on the 23rd February, 1939. _ These bye-laws were designed to secure changes which practice and experience deemed to be necessary, and represent a distinct advance from a sanitary point of view on the old bye-laws. Bye-law .25 in particular will secure the cleanliness and uniformity of apparel that has m the past been a feature conspicuous by its absence. It reads as follows : “ Eveiy licensed slaughterman shall wear a distinctive overall and washable cap of a type to be decided upon by the Manager and approved by the Mayor.” (3) Bakehouses. The majority of the forty-one (41) bakehouses on the Register are housed in piemises which fall far short of what modern standards of hygiene demand and with the additional power conferred bv the new bye-laws with respect to the Sale of Foodstuffs which were passed by the Governor in Executive Council in August, 1937, a vigorous campaign is being pursued to secure that suitability and cleanliness of premises, persons, appliances, and of raw material which would ensure the delivery to the general public of a baked product that conforms to the highest sanitary requirements. Most of the buildings used as bakehouses are very old structures of antiquated design which were never constructed as such, but have been adapted for baking purposes in a way that can only be described as roughshod and primitive. Suffice it to'say that there is a Statutory Notice on every one of these premises and the result has been that at least one large bakehouse has been constructed and another large one reconditioned in its entirety, in keeping with the bye-laws. Prevalence of Rats and Mosquitoes. Anti-Rat Measures. _ , , With the inclusion of the St. James Area within the limits of the City, another gang consisting of a driver and five (5) men has been added to the anti-rat unit, making a total of six (6) gangs consisting of six drivers and twenty-two men. 0,,. , , • ,i Out of a total of 8,770 rats destroyed during the year under review 818 weie caught m the t. James Area in the seven months, June to December. Destruction of Rats and Mice._ Rats and Mice Pestroyed. Jan. 1 Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept Oct. Nov. Dec. Total. Rats caught by Trappers ... Rats bought Total Rats destroyed Mice caught and destroyed 649 139 788 106 645 105 750 137 620 119 739 191 1 I 471! 535 602 66 74 36 537; 609 638 119 120 237 690' 895 86; 80 776 975 299 332 848 92 940 313 566 60 626 171 672 68 740 212 580 72 652 214 7,773 997 8,770 2,441 Examination of Rats by Government Bacteriologist. Examination of Rats. tats examined for Plague ... tats found infected with Plague mmature Rats not examined ... 11 Feb. Mar. Apr. May June | July Aug. Sept; Oct. Nov. Dec. Total. 750 730 9 537 ... 608 1 638 768 8 975 1 9401 616 10 740; 639] 8,718 !.J 13 52 A nti-Mosquito M easures. No undue prevalence of mosquitoes was apparent during the year The complaints received were such as we are accustomed to receive the year round, waxing in the rainy season when there il a greater likelihood of pools of rain water after a downpour remaining stagnant for a sufficiently long-time to enable the breeding of mosquitoes to take place, and waning m the dry season wh that contingency hardly ever arises. The genus found is, m the large majority of cases Aedes being farlnd away the commonest species-, then members of the culitmef farmly- culex fatSans being a common breeder in watery cesspits- and on the outskirts of the City at its ettJnind^L end a few anopheles-anopheles tammaculatus being the most important malaria carrying mosqurtosinJ:hi^f\jcinity^ ^ al)d 22 men are engaged in doing this, work all the year round*' house to house inspection is routine and the gang.m any particular district works whosc^ district e-EStds1 to thf hiUS in tLLstand north of the City, their special duty tang to rid premises of empty milk tins, pieces of broken crockery old motor car tyres, cocoirut she s, o bottles, and such like places where mosquitoes are likely to bleed.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31487439_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
