The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-22
.DISINFECTA IN 7
DR.. Alvarez Says 1t Is
Useless.
States Plague Cannot be Stamped
Out by Their Use--Quotes
Rankin as Authority.

have fallen into the error that we have
stamped out an epidemic of bubonic
plague by using disinfectants and keep
ing all the inhabitants of the infected
district in their houses.
1t is claimed that because quarantine
and disinfectants succeeded in stamp
ing out cholera the same measures
could not fail in the case of plague.
Both diseases are propagated by very
different means-cholera by water
and food; plague usually by rats or
the fleas which infest the rats suffering
from the plague. When the rat sue
cumbs to the plague all it's feas leave
the cold, dead body to become parasites
OF other living rats or of man
1t is clearly seen that it is not pos
slble TO establish an efficient quaran-
tine against rats which. when stricken
with the plague, have a tendency to mi
CRATE to new places
A year ago Hankin, who studied the
plague and the means to combat it in
India, spoke of the distinfectants as
follows:
In regard to the City of Bombay, it
is established that disinfection prac-
ticed with profusion which has never
been equaled in the history of hygiene
was not capable Of opposing the march
OF the disease in all the wards of the
city
LAS soon as the plague was known
to exist in Bombay vigorous measures
were adopted to check it, These COM
prised the destruction by fire of bed
ding, clothing and other suspected OBJ
jects. The disinfection of rooms and
houses inside and outside. They added
to these measures the isolation of the
patients and the airing or destruction
of the suspected grain. AS no panic
had occurred as yet, the people did not
conceal the cases of plague"
During the month of November the
drains of a small portion of the district
of Mandvie, comprising $50 infected
houses, were daily disinfected with
solution of carbolic acid The
disease spread, and they resorted TO
Iuicklime used profusely. 1t was proved
hat lime was not capable of arresting
The disease and was no longer consid-
cred a reliable disinfectant. Many
houses were whitewashed three times
Eighty-nine cases appeared in the
houses that had received many COM
Dlete whitewashings. Thus Kimati-
Dura, where the houses were most fire.
Iuently whitewashed, proved to be the
most seriously invaded ward of the
,ity.
AS Hankin is a very high authority
On bubOnic plague, we cannot doubt
MS conclusions, since he studied the
spread of the disease not only in Bonn
bay but in many other infected cities
and towns of India.
Since we cannot trust to disinfect-
ants, he recommends the very oppo-
site of what the Board of Health did
when they thought the plague was
here.
Instead of corraling many people in
such a pesthole as Chinatown, where
rats, the agents which spread the
plague, are abundant, Hankin advises
to remove from such unhealthy places
all the people who, after careful eXami-
nation, show no signs of plague, taking
them ITO a proper camping ground,
where they are kept under observation
from five to seven days.
If Honolulu has really had the bu-
bonic plague it behooves its lnhablt-
ants to prepare for its second vista
ton.
| will add the opinion of Simond,
who studied the plague in China and
India. He says: I'm justice to the
of India we must recog-
nize that nothing was spared in order
to control the plague. Unfortunately,
the results do not correspond to so
much expense and to so many efforts.
Of all the measures taken in India,
one segregation-has given a
relative success, where it could be
applied. The theory that the
microbe is found in the soil has caused
the houses and the streets to be food
ed with torrents of all the microbicide
liquids that human ingenuity could in
vent. Two years of experience has
shown their uselessness. If, by chance.
one can attribute to them some good
results, it is only when their usage is
by the evacuation of the
houses and their closure until
the end of the epidemic"
The fact that this disease is spread
mainly by rats would also lead TO the
that disinfectants cannot
put an end to an epidemic of black
plague. l.. +. ALVAREZ.