49
" The Bhairoba Nullah.—Almost the whole length of the nullah has now
been turfed, eliminating scores of breeding places. The value of the grass on
the banks of this nullah now increases with each succeeding year, and anti-mala
-rial funds are already very considerably supplemented from the sale of grass. "
Spraying has been developed extensively in all Commands since its intro-
duction some 5 years ago in Northern Command as a regular measure. It is
proving most effective. It has the immense advantage that it deals not only
with mosquitoes of all types, but also sandflies, the numerous winged and
crawling pests of the hot weather and finally with the house fly. This method
therefore affects malaria, sandfly fever, dengue, oriental sore and the intestinal
infections. Its value when carried out properly cannot be exaggerated. Pyre-
thrum extracts made up in kerosene, 1 to 74 or even 100 as Pyefly mixture, are
commonly used with great success, although the proprietary Pyrocide 20 is
favoured by some. Deskito, an aqueous solution, is said to be very effective
and is to be tried.
Biweekly spraying of barracks at a cost of Rs. 1-8-0 per a 30,000 cubic feet
Barrack room is considered in Peshawar to have been responsible for the
effective reduction in mosquitoes, sandflies and flies. There is no doubt that
we should concentrate on spraying as a successful method, which can be carried
out with ease whether troops are in barracks, quarters, camps or in the field.
It is a measure which gives greatest results for the time and money expended.
Spraying by means of special atomising machines, " Phantomyst " has been
tried at Peshawar and Rawalpindi with reported success. The machines are
expensive but the results are stated to be good. Arrangements have been made
to provide 4 more machines for special stations. In smaller stations spraying
with ordinary hand spray-guns is the method which is proving most effective.
Spraying of water surfaces with pyrethrum extracts has recently been
found to be deadly to larvae and to be effective in one to two minutes. This
offers yet another advantage of the method and may replace normal oiling.
Anticipatory or preventive treatment by means of Atebrin was tried in
Northern Command at Khajuri plain and Wana and Plasmoquine and Quinine
at Chakdara and Ali-Masjid in the Khyber. Set courses with proper controls
were arranged and some success was achieved. The trials are to be repeated
extensively in 1939 under full control to settle the question of the efficacy of the
method as far as military personnel are concerned.
Mosquito catching by the oily plate method is successfully used in places,
catches of 89,000 adult mosquitoes per month have been recorded.
The magnitude of the work in some stations may be gauged by the condi-
tions at Nowshera where there was larval breeding easily visible along the banks
of the Kabul river for 31/2 miles. In Gorakhpur anti-malarial measures are
hampered by water hyacinth.
In Western Independent District at Quetta normal methods were reorga-
nised. Cooly gangs are expensive out of all proportion to their value, so the
whole area was divided amongst Unit Squads which each dealt with every part
of its area once weekly under its unit anti-malarial officer, not a medical officer.
Frequent and controlled spraying was extensively used and proved most
valuable, particularly as unit squads can deal with all unit buildings and quar-
ters, where as cooly squads cannot without special arrangement.
The scheme was an immense success ; cooly squads were discarded and
their cost saved. Unit squads after the necessary instruction worked with
enthusiasm and the men and units attributed the very marked drop in malarial
infection to this method. British units were not so good as Indian units,