The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-14
THE PLAGUE
CONTINUED from Page 49,

sufficient, as shown thus far and the
attendant symptoms were such that il
was safe TO say the disease was plague
and TO treat it so as preventive meas
ure.
The plague is contagious disease.
But ii does not follow that every time
one comes in contact with an affected
person he contracts the disease. The
period of incubation is from two 10
seven days and in very heavy cases
seems to be only a few hours. The lat
est period ever observed has been fif-
teen days. The germs of the disease
thrive in the ground and rats which
contract it usually die in three DAYS.
The doctor stated when the epidemic
was last in Canton there was a very
large death rate among rats before peo-
pie took sick and the greatest death
rate occurred where people lived in cell
lars. There were very few died where
the people lived upon the house boats
on the rivers.
When the plague is imported into
country, as here, there are usually only
few isolated cases during the first
three or four weeks and after thar
H..
Hoffman did not think such would he
the case here owing to the very prompt
and e1lclent action of the authorities.
AS to the duration of the disease If
lasts from few weeks if well hand
led, TO many months or even years. if
unchecked. Both nations and indi-
viduals are affected by plague in ac-
cOrdance with the dirt ratio. The
cleanest nations are almost entirely
exempt and only are visited by epi-
denies of short duration introduced
by accident, as in Hawaii. The plague
affects persons most between the ages
of ten and thirty years
Il am glad you have called" said
DR.. George Herbert to a reporter. for
friends of mine ask me how it was |
did not report the suspicious case of
plague spoken of by one at the Board
of Health meeting last Tuesday. as
having been discovered on November
10, and some Of them think | had seen
this case and had kept it back The
facts are as follows:
DR.. SoOng called me out to Wing Wo
Tai and Co.'S on Monday night to see
a case he said he wanted me to look at,
as he had seen a Chinese woman about
month previously. die under similar
conditions. | went to see the case, and
Immediately recognized it could be
nothing else but plague, as the man
had no symptoms of any other kind
of disease, and nothing that could as
simulate any other disease. | asked DR..
Soong if he had heard of any other
such cases, and gave him a prepared
list of questions, to elicit all the par
ticulars of any case he might know OF,
and asked him to get to work that
night and prepare answers to these
questions for me in the morning 4
also asked him to let me know if any
other physicians amongst the Chinese
had met with similar cases. This was
the first time | heard of the woman
who died on November 10, and also the
first intimatiOn | had of the presence
Of the disease amongst us. The patient
had been sick for three days, her tenn
perature was 104 deg. at the time Dr.
SOOng visited her, and her death fol-
lowed two hours after his departure
On Tuesday morning DR.. Soong report
ed another case to me, that of the man
on Maunakea street, which proved to
be bubonic fever. This patient also
died on Monday last
| am now satisfied that most of the
recent cases of sudden death after a
short illness, with high lever and de-
lirium, and which have been consid-
cred due to severe form of malarial
or remittent fever, consequent on the
laying Of the sewers throughout the
city, have been cases of Illuminating
plague. This particular form of the
disease is similar in effect to acute
blood poisoning, and may kill in from
six to twentyfour hours or some hours
later, being so rapid that buboes have
no time to form. Even when an autop-
sy is made, nothing abnormal is dis
covered beyond an acutely congested
spleen
Asked if he attributed the sudden
deaths of the Claudine sailors to this
disease, DR.. Herbert said:
Il did not see the men and know
nothing OF the matter other than I |
have heard it so suggested, but | re-
gard with suspicion any of these late
sudden deaths that have rot revealed |
any specific cause by post norton ex-
In compliance with a request that he |
would give few suggestions as to the |
best way for residents to combat the |
plague, he further said:
BY strict attention to food. cloth |
ng and cleanliness, will be found the |
sureSt safeguard Milk should be |
sterilized, that is placed in a pan over
4 fire and brought to the point of |
boiling but not actually reaching it, |
and allowed to so remain for a few
minutes. Water for drinking purposes
should be boiled. In regard to pro-
the only thing to do is, use
that food one is accustomed to, but be
careful in ascertaining the locality
from which it is procured, refusing
anything which comes from affected
localities. Keep every portion of the
house and premises perfectly clean, |
drains and cesspools we'll flushed, |
house and Immediately surrounding
and free from surface moisture. The
house linen and personal clothing
,hr1n11 hn aS