New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1900-03-10
THE BUBONlC PLAGUE IN SAN
FRANCISCO.

| There is great deal Of excite.
ment in San Francisco over re.
puted case Of bubonic plague that
was discovered there yesterday
The patient is a Chinaman.
How the disease got there is un-
known, but probably in the person
Of the Chinaman, who was doubt
less smuggled into the port. Des-
pite the stringency of the laws ex-
Guiding Chinese immigration, the
yellow people find means to get
into this country, and apparently
they cannot be stopped. The dis
ease had previously reached Manila,
Honolulu and Japan from Hong
Kong, and with the frequent in
tercourse of San Francisco with
those ports it would not be at all
strange if the dreaded disease should
have found lodgment on Ameri-
can shores. The consideration, above
all others, is to prevent it's spread
in and from San Francisco.
A history of the plague by Surg
con General of the Army Stern
berg, in the Geographic Magazine
for March, is Of interest in this
connection. This history extends
back to remote antiquity. Greek
physicians of the second and third
centuries before the Christian era
have left record Of pestilential
malady characterized by the for
nation of buboes, which prevailed
in Libya, in Egypt, and in Syria,
and two Alexandrian physicians,
Dioscorides and Poseidonios, who
were contemporaries of Christ,
have given description of the dis
ease.
It may be we'll to explain that
the bnboes characteristic of the dis
ease are enlarged and inflamed
glands in the groins, in the armpits,
and elsewhere, which in chronic
cases may suppurate and discharge
a virulent pus, by which the dis
ease is propagated. 1t is held that
the germ of the disease is found
not only in these suppurating bu-
boes, but also in the blood of an
infected individual.
According to General Sternberg,
three forms of the disease are re-
cognized by modern authors. A
mild or abortive form, in which
there is little pain or fever, and in
which the buboes rarely suppurate.
In this form the enlarged glands
in the groin, armpit and neck us
ually disappear in about two weeks.
In it's usual form the disease is
ushered in with chilly sensations,
fever, lassitude and pain in the
back and limbs. The buboes are
quickly developed, and the general
symptoms soon assume a grave
character. If the patient lives for
a week or more the buboes usually
suppurate, and carbuncles and
boils are often developed. In the
third or fulminant form Of the dis.
ease death may occur within few
hours from the outset of the attack,
and in advance Of the development
Of the characteristic buboes.
In the middle ages the plague
appeared in Europe, and at intervals
continued to occur, but the accounts
of the nature of the prevailing
"pest'' are usually confused and
unsatisfactory, and it was not until
nearly the middle Of the fourteenth
century that the horrible epidemic
known as the "black death" de-
wasted Europe and caused the death
Of more then 25, 200, 900 of its in
habitants. There has been consid-
able difference Of opinion among
the best authorities as to whether
the "blak death" Of the fourteenth
century was identical with bubonic
plague. It presented some features
which seem to distinguish it from
subsequent epidemics and it had its
origin from q different quarter Of
the globe.
While bubonic plague has usual
ly invaded Europe from Egypt, the
"black death" is believed to have
originated in Northern China. It
is not known exactly when or where
this epidemic had its origin, but
it is known to have reached the
Crimea in 1852 and Constantinople
the following year. The same year
| it was conveyed by ships to several
seaports Of Italy, both on the Med
iterranean and tho Adriatic, and
also to Marseilles, on the French
coast. In 1348 it extended to the
interior Of these countries and to
Spain; also to England, Holland
and the Scandinavian peninsular,
when it completed the invasion Of
Europe. The disease first appeared
| in London in November, 1348, and
| it continued to prevail in various
parts Of England for . period OF