Another danger of family health can lie in household pets like cats and dogs, if they are not healthy. Dogs need to be washed regularly, to be de-wormed periodically (they have tapeworm, hook worm, and roundworm), have a clean bed changed weekly, and to be well fed, brushed, and exercised. Rabies is endemic in many countries, and all dogs should be immunized against this disease, and movement order obtained from the veterinary officer if they are taken goto another area.
Insects
Life cycle and prevention of transmission by Flies
HOUSE FLIESThe Life-cycle of the housefly lasts 10 days, and the fly lays many eggs at a time in warm organic rubbish, i.e manure, faeces or decaying vegetable matter or rubbish.
The body and the legs are hairy and can carry bacteria. It dissolves its food with saliva, vomits on the food and defaecates, and can contaminate our food with germs derived from human excreta.
Flies can spread the following:
1. Typhoid fever2. Dysentery and diarrhoea.
3. Gastro-enteritis.
4. Trachoma.
Prevention of Transmission by Flies
Destroy breeding places:1. Keep latrines clean and covered.
2. Bury all food wastes or cover with soil in a compost heap.
3. Remove all faeces from the compound and see that children use pots.
4. Animal manure should be collected into special pit and covered.
5. All rubbish should be buried, burned, or put into a bin with a well-fitting lid.
All food should be covered or kept in a safe or a refrigerator. All infants' feeding equipment should be boiled and covered. The house should be cleaned daily. Insecticide sprays and fly papers can be used, if they can be afforded. Clean children's eyes and faces daily. Have guaze on kitchen windows and doors if possible - many homes could not afford this, but kitchens that prepare food for other people, for example eating-houses or restaurants, should have this protection.
Mosquitoes
Female mosquitoes are insects which must have a blood meal to complete their reproductive cycle, and at the same time they inject the malaria parasite from their salivary glands if the previous person bitten was infected. They breed in water, take only some days to mature. Usually mosquitoes like dark places to hide in.
Mosquitoes spread the following diseases:
1. Malaria.2. Filariasis.
3. Yellow fever.
4. Many virus infections.
Control Mosquitoes
1. Cut the grass very short around the house and compound.
2. Plant trees away from the house.
3. Clear all collections of waves: pools, water-tanks nearly empty, old thor, old car tyres, flower-pots, blocked gutters, some plants - cannas, Dracaena.
4. Dig ditches to drain swamps.
5. Plant gum trees which use much water, block up holes in trunks of trees.
6. Pour oil on any pool which cannot be drained.
7. Put a netting cover on the water-tank.
8. Use of long-acting insecticides on walls or 'knockdown' insecticides at night.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches breed in cracks in warm places, for example near the fireplace, and come out at night. They contaminate food with their excreta and through walking in dirty places and can sometimes carry germs such as salmonellae. They often eat the covers of books in the tropics.
Prevention of Cockroaches
1. Regular cleaning of the kitchen.
2. Plastering cracks and holes in the walls.
3. Spraying with DDT.
4. Painting around edge of the floor and fixtures with DDT emulsion paint. This is a contact poison so it must be applied where they will run over it. DDT should, however, be used sparingly, especially in kitchens where it may contaminate food. Pyrethrum preparations, powdered borax, sodium fluoride are also useful, but must also be kept away from food.
