The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-13
BUB0NIC PLAGUE
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be carried from places Where il pre-
walls systematically measures TO pre-
vent such importation, cannot be neg
leCted. When a case has been repart-
ed. the b Ouse should be emptied of its
Inhabitants, the sick removed TO a hos
pitaL the sound placed in an isolated
building and subjected to observation
Tor ~ least 4 week, or, better. ten davs.
The clothes of sick parsons had better
* burnt, their bedding and furniture
completely dIsinfected: the house
should in the meantime be rightly
closed until it has been disinfec1ed. If
these measures are taken in time there
can be no objection to allowing free
emigration of the population. Isola-
tio1 OF the place by sanitary cor
don would only be possible in very
exceptional positions, and as a rule
would aggrsyate, by overcrow5ling. the
intensity OF the. disease within
PLAGUE PROPAGATION.
DR.. Kitazato, described as one of the
greatest authorities ON infectious dis
/ eases in Japan, has recently written an
I article upon the bubonic plague. Fol-
| lowing arc the important points OF the
|
two kinds Of the pest bacilli, namely:
| l, Those that enter the human body
| through cuts and wounds at limb ex-
tremities- and by travelling up the
| lymphatic veins, COLOMBO with dread
full results at the armpits and in the
region of the groin: and ,, those that
gain admittance by the respiratory or
gans and which attack the lungs and
| the surrounding parts. The bacilli of
| the latter species. like those of tuber-
culosis. lind their way out in breath
| ing and splitting and are the most dam
gerOuS on account of their greater
contagious power.
The infection is not necessarily con-
fined to cases where the victim comes
in contact with a pest patient, for the
thing may be said of other contagious
place, lodge in piece of rag, a breath
of air, and so on. and thence find their
way into the human body. The same
thing may be said of other contagious
diseases, but none is so yirulent in it's
power of attack as the pest bacilli, and
stray scraps of paper from a patients
house and even the damp air around
about it, are constantly carrying out
the germs. For instance, in the pres
ent outbreak at Kobe, the first victim
was an employee of a dealer in grain and
the second and third were handlers of
imported cotton. From these circum-
stances it may be presumed that the
disease germs came TO Kobe concealed
in those articles recently imported
from Newchang, China.
Besides the above, there is another
object which everywhere makes itself
a powerful medium for the propagation
of the disease, namely, the rat; and it
is almost always the case that, in a
pest-stricken house two or three dead
rats, victims of the plague, are to be
found. The pest is infectious not only
in the case of human beings, but most
especially so with rats. For example,
if a piece of flesh from the thigh of a
pest victim be applied to the tip of a
rats tail, the animal Will almost i'm
mediately drop dead. so violent being
the power of attack which the bacilli
possess in the case OF the rodent. On
the occasion of the outbreak of the
disease in Hongkong some years ago,
and before the general public had come
to realize it's dreadful character, car
casses of dead rats were to be found
in large numbers on the streets and
roadsides of the place. On examination,
these dead rats were discovered to be
literally filled with the plague bacilli;
and steps were at once taken co en-
force preventive measures against rats
in general. But being extremely sly
animals, it was practically impossible
to devise any effective means for put
ting them under control, and the
propagation of the disease from this
source became utterly irrepressible.
Furthermore, being carnivorous in
their habits, rats ate up their dead
comrades-the victims of the plague
thus spreading the infection through
out all ratdom. The consequences was
that anything and everything bitten by
rats or soiled by their eXcretions be-
came the means of conveying the dis
ease to the human body. The only eff
cient method of disinfection will thus
be, as it was then, to burn down the
plague-stricken house with all its con-
tents.
Again, however intinitesimally small
the wounds or cuts on the hand and
feet be, when attacked they will at
once become the avenue of entrance
into our body for the germs, and in
consequence. the propagation is gener-
ally very rapid among the lower
classes of the Chinese, Indians and
Japanese who are wont TO go about
barefooted.