The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-02-13
PLAGUE DATA
Surgeon Gen. Wyman's
Pamphlet.
Extracts From a Monograph on the
Nature and Treatment of the
BubOniC SCOurge.

The following are portions of the
pamphlet about the bubonie plague
which has been issued by. the United
States Government over the signature
of Surgeon General Wyman:
Spread in Houses and Localities.
The conditions favoring plague are
! similar to those favoring typhus fe-
yer. namely, crowd poisoning, bad ven
| tiiation and drainage, impure water
| supply, famine or imperfect pourish-
nent, and inattention to sanitary re-
quirements. 1t is probable of this dis
ease, as of yellow fever, that human
habttationS and the ground may be-
come so thoroughly infected as to es-
tabltsh endemicity., The bacillus NAV
inject food and water, though how
lcng 1t will retain it's virility in water
is as yet undetermined. Clothing and
other personal effects, bedding, etc.
may be infected through the dis
charges. The bacillus may be carried
in the dust arising through the cleans
ing OF dwelling houses which plague
| patients have occupied.
A very important element in the
spread OF plague in houses and locali-
ties are rats and other animals. II has
been found that rats, mice. snakes,
beetles, bugs, flies, dogs and ;ackaIs
are infected during an epidemic. IT is
significant that the epidemics do not
attack the purely herbivorous animals
horses, oxen, sheep, goats and rab-
bits. Rats die in large numbers. and
generally this phenomenon is observ
ed In advance of the appearance of the
plague among human beings. The
cause or their infection is still a sub
Ject of discussion. The soil becomes
injected, and very common belief in
Oriental countries is that the rat con-
tracts the disease from miasmatic
carnations from the soil, but this has
never been scientifically demonstrate
ed and is probably incorrect. The fact
! that mortality among rats precedes an
; outbreak or plague among human be-
ings Is explained by Lowson by the fact
that rats have their shouts about an
inch above the floors of houses and
are more liable to inspire plague-in-
: fected dust than are human beings.
Prevention of Spread.
: Modern science, in it's development
!, Of the serum therapy of disease, ap-
pears to have found an efficacious rem
5 edy in the prophylaxis and treatment
{ of this disease, which hitherto has
: maintained an average mortality of 80
1 per cent. A French physician, YER
; sin, was the first to use the serum from
an immuniZed horse upon cases of a
severe type. At Annoy, in 1896, he
9 treated twenty-three cases of plague in
n this manner, all of whom recovered
excepting two, whose cases were des-
perate from the outset, and upon whom
!. treatment was not begun until the
{ fifth day Of the disease. Additional
statistics, which follow, confirm the
r efficacy of this procedure. The method
: in this treatment is similar to that of
the antitoxin of diphtheria, the eff
8 cacy Of which is now thoroughly es-
b tablshed.
4 In the prevention of the spread of
g the disease in a given house all hygi-
s enic measures are necessary, such as
: proper sewerage, purity of water sup
e ply, isolation of the sick, disinfection
of clothing and bedding, of the evacu-
= ations and sputum, and disinfection OF
the room; all unnecessary contact
with the sick to be avoided, great care
to be exercised with regard to food and
e drink, and, according to Kitasato, aft
er recovery the patient to be kept in
: isolation for at least one month. 1t is
believed that we have a valuable aid
? in disinfection of rooms and houses in
= formaldehyd gas, which has now been
established as a reliable agent, and
which can be used without injury to
metals or fabrics. It has the disadvan-
tage, however, of not killing vermin
while sulphur fumigation does. The
a latter. therefore, is more generally de-
sirable. The general and well-known
> administrative precautions in the pre-
ventiOn of the spread of smallpox
isolation, guarding of premises, ETC.
are applicable to plague.
The advice of Kitasato that the pa
tient should be kept isolated Ont
month after apparent recovery is sig
n nificant. Like precautions are neces
sary with regard to other contagious
diseases, and too little attention ha.
heretofore been paid to this very nee
essary precaution against the spread
a of contagious disease. For example
patients apparently recovered from
10 cholera may carry within the intesti
~ nal tract the germs of the disease
70 variable time, in one recorded in
70 stance 1863 days. Patients who hav
: apparently recovered from diphtheFi1
"a iberia bacillus present in the throa
Is for many days after recovery.
AS a means of preventing the sprea
Il Of the disease mention should not b
re omitted of the Haffkine prophylactiC
~ the efficacy of which has been demon
~ strated. as shown further on.
o. The means to be adopted when tn
~ disease becomes epidemic in cit
81 consist, first, of a house-to-house in
50 spection.
There should be prohibition Of tn
q use of dwellings unfit for habitatior
q and abatement of overcrowding shout
\ be required. Buildings and premise:
a If infected or suspected, should be va
= Gated for cleansing and disinfecting
= The sick should be removed to hospi
- tails or treated in their own homes
and the well who have been expose
should be removed to refuge camps. In
feCted bedding clOthinp a+o -lo,,1