. Animal parasites and human disease. Medical parasitology; Insects as carriers of disease. PREVENTION 421 Prevention. — Strict cleanliness in private homes or public buildings prevents fleas from breeding in them. Uncared-for carpets and straw mattings afford excellent breeding grounds for the human flea, as do dusty cracks between floor boards, unswept corners under sinks, and any other place where the eggs and young, undisturbed, may obtain enough moisture to keep them from drying up. The use of bare hard- wood floors with rugs which can readily be taken up and swept and thorough sweeping i
. Animal parasites and human disease. Medical parasitology; Insects as carriers of disease. PREVENTION 421 Prevention. — Strict cleanliness in private homes or public buildings prevents fleas from breeding in them. Uncared-for carpets and straw mattings afford excellent breeding grounds for the human flea, as do dusty cracks between floor boards, unswept corners under sinks, and any other place where the eggs and young, undisturbed, may obtain enough moisture to keep them from drying up. The use of bare hard- wood floors with rugs which can readily be taken up and swept and thorough sweeping in corners and under pieces of furniture, sinks, etc., do not give fleas an opportunity to breed in the home or in public buildings, and are FlG- 186. Head of chicken therefore valuable preventive measures, infested with chicken flea, r\ r j_i t_ j. j. • ij- Echidnovhaga gallinacea. One 01 the best means of ridding an (After Bishopp.) infested house of fleas is to sprinkle the floors with naphthaline and close the rooms for a day or two. This will effectually kill all adult and larval fleas, and the eggs may then be destroyed by washing the floors with hot soap- suds, a five per cent formalin solution or one-tenth per cent solution of corrosive sublimate. It is claimed that alum swept into carpets or a solution of alum soaked into carpet paper pre- vents fleas from breeding. Fleas are very susceptible to fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas. Experiments by the U. S. Public Health Service show that fleas succumb to the amount of gas generated by two and one-half ounces of potassium cyanide in 1000 cubic feet of space. Fumigation with sulphur is also effective. Details of methods of fumigation with these substances will be found on p. 383. Sodium fluoride in the form of a crystalline powder scattered on floors or blown about by means of a dust-gun will probably prove effective against fleas, as it has against cockroaches and other insects. It is inexpensive and not dangerous t
Size: 1418px × 1762px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmedical, bookyear1918
