34 



Information concerning Rat Surveys and Rat Proofing ; with a Model 

 Ordinance designed to regulate Building with reference to Rat 

 Proofing. — Public Health Repts., Washington, D.C., xxxv, no. 45, 

 5th November 1920, pp. 2615-2628. 



The danger of bubonic plague in the United States, and the economic 

 loss caused by it and by the depredations of rats in general are 

 emphasised, extensive quotations being given from a paper by Creel 

 in 1913 [Public Health Repts., xxviii, no. 27]. The annual loss due 

 to rats in the United States was there estimated at ;{33, 400,000. This 

 is followed by an account by C. V. Akin of the major requirements 

 necessary in the conduct of a rat survey in a given area with a view 

 to finding whether plague is present among the rats, as this may be 

 the case for some time before the infection is transmitted to man. 

 The methods of making buildings, etc., rat -proof are also detailed, 

 together with a specimen building ordinance adaptable to any given 

 district, requiring every building, etc., that is erected to be rat- 

 proofed. 



Barbieri (A.) . La Substitucion de los Ranchos por Viviendas higienicas, 

 en las Provincias afectadas por el Paludismo. [The Substitution 

 of hygienic Dwelhngs for nati\'e Huts in the Provinces affected 

 by Malaria.] — Anales Dept. Nac. Higiene, Buenos Aires, xxvi, 

 no. 3, May-June 1920, pp. 185-198, 10 figs. TReceived 7th 

 December 1920.] 



The majority of the native working population in Argentina lives 

 in unhghted, badly -ventilated huts exposed to all changes of climate, 

 and the result is that sucli diseases as malaria, tuberculosis, plague, 

 typhus, etc., are rife. Tlie use of wire screens at doors and windows as a 

 protection against mosquitos would be quite ineffective in these 

 habitations. It is suggested that this is a problem for the government 

 to face, and that the National Department of Hygiene might be 

 given facilities for gradually replacing these dwellings with hygienic 

 and convenient habitations. Investigation has shown that more than 

 50 per cent, of the poorer class dwellings in the northern provinces of 

 Argentina, which are zones of endemic malaria, consist of these 

 miserable huts. Model portable dwellings of ferro-concrete, suitable 

 for replacing the present huts, are described and illustrated, and their 

 approximate cost is worked out. 



Movimiento tecnico y administrativo. [Technical and Administrative 

 Activities.] — Anales Dept. Xac. Higiene, Buenos Aires, xxvi, 

 no. 3, Mav-June 1920, pp. 227-234. [Received 7th December 

 1920.] 



Cases of bubonic j)lague having been reported from the Province of 

 Catamarca, in April 1920, precautionary measures were taken, including 

 thorough disinfection of more than forty dwellings. Only nine cases 

 of plague occurred in all, and the rats were exterminated in all buildings 

 where they were likely to occur. 



A circular has been prepared and distributed throughout the 

 provinces of Argentina, drawing attention to the dangers arising from 

 the presence of rats and fleas. 



