The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-22
hyDROPHOB|A
IT'S TACTICS
Communities Guilty of Most
Vicious Crimes.
MEANS FOR PREVENTION
No Cure for Disease After 1t
Is Started.

Within the past six months there have
been in New York twelve fatal cases of
hydrophobia, each and all directly trace
able TO a criminal negligence on the part
Of the community, says the New York
Post. If these twelve victims had been
killed in railroad accident the courts
would have compelled the company to
pay damages. If they had been killed
in a factory the proprietor would have
been held responsible. In nearly all these
cases, as far as known, the victim was in
no way to be blamed. The majority Of
deaths resulted from the bite of dog be-
longing TO a stranger; and the dog had
contracted the disease owing TO criminal
carelessness on the part Of local and
state health boards In one village,
not thousand miles from New York
six or seven animals died of hydropho-
bia during the summer. Not one of the
cases was reported to local authorities
All wee hushed up. so that the other
animals that had come in contact with
with the infected one were left running
at large unmuzzled to the risk of the
whole state. In another village. stin clos
er to New York, diseased dog exhibiting
al 1.-THE symptoms of rabies was killed.
and actually fed uncooked to barnyard
creatures destined for the New York
markets. And in a third case in the
heart Of New York city mad dog was
deliberately kept loose in a frequented
building until it had infected the place
and two persons were bitten.
All these cases were hushed up. Neigh
bors had no chance to protect themselves.
Dogs and horses that had come in contact
with infection wont 1,pCr,a pti,,a1 rrba
result has been what might have been
expected. Dogs have gone on the ramp
on lower Broadway on the East Side. and
on the West Side. Within a single month
of the winter the board of health has
treated many as ten people for rabies
the Pasteur Institute as many as twelve
or fifteen in the same length of time,
and twelve deaths have occurred from
hydrophobia.
The situation is precisely the same"
said doctor, as if center of small
pox were allowed to exist Who should
be held responsible-the poor victim who
contracts the disease TO run it's course
unquarantined? That it is possible TO
stamp out the disease as completely as
the Black Death has been stamped out.
is amply proved by statistics. There are
certain parts of the country-Maine and
the New England states. Minnesota and
all the Northwestern states Quebec. and.
indeed all Of Canada-where hydrophobia
is unknown; or. if known. rare at once
stamped out and directly traced TO i'm
portaton from careless states. OF the
careless states there are New York New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and all the south
ern states; but preeminent as sinners of
omission are the Carolinas. Georgia and
Virginia. For instance. very bad case
of rabies was brought to this city few
months ago from one of the western
states bordering of Canada 1t was at
once traced to contact three months pre-
viously with dogs from the east; and
some years ago. when the Pasteur treat
ment was still experimental, some two
dozen people were rushed to New York
from a single Canadian city for treatment
at the Pasteur Institute and by the
board Of health, the trouble being caused
by dog going TO the Ontario towns on
a visit with its master.
4 am not eNaggerating when / say that
90 per cent Of the rabies that has come
10 New York state In the past ten years
has been brought from those southern
states where the hounds run Gentlemen
GO down from New York in the hunting
season. These states are VIGOROUSLY care
less. The packs from the north come in
contact with southern dogs. Perhaps they
are kenneled in the same quarters or
fastened with the same chains The dog
ticks the kennel. There may be break
in the skin of the lips. That is enough.
or Wou know the way these hunting
nose scent nostrils touching earth).
there may be the slightest scratch on the
nose. That is enough. The pack is
brought back 10 the north 1t is not US
ually under close Observable but kept
by a stable boy or cuachman who fails
10 note the daily conditions Of the dog.
Several months may pass. The dog be
comes stodgy. listless and lazy. If it
were house dog this might cause care.
In kennel il passes unuoticed.
There are other points which people
never think Of t.ll fatality has happened.
The animal becomes clumsy and stupid.
constantly getting in your way II 1t is
of a cross temper il now becomes suIky.
IL good tempered il pleads for a great
deal Of fondling and petting In fact.
this is even more dangerous stage than
later, for whether cat. dog. or horse.
creature that is & pet becomes so al
most human. doing everything hut speak
inE and pleading SO pathetcally. that
some kind soul is sure To suspect the
animal is in pain and Try 10 relieve il
The cat may lick little girls hand, the
dog hold its gaping month up TO IT'S
master. The master wonders if the trou-
Die is tooth or something stuck in the
dog s throat The mouth may be parched
and swollen. The man takes hold Of the
dogs Jaws with his hand. and PERHAPS
puts his hand or a spoon down to oren
a passage in the apparently closed throat.
The sudden thrush of air relieves the dog
SO that the jaws have really been locked (
now snap shut. not necessarily biting 4
the man; but you can see the chances Z
are a hundred 10 one that the man gets /
saliva on his hands or a scratch from 4
the teeth of the falling upper jaw. II I
there s any abrasion Of the skin. scratch. /
cut or lesion between the nail and quick 1
Of the fingers, there is risk OF infec- 1
ton
The risk is in proportion 10 several /
things: % The location of the wound. /
the more dangerous locations being the l
face, the tips OF the fingers. and the veinS |
Of ankle or wrist; % the depth and mum /
Der OF wounds; CD the condition Of tn, /
subject the healthy subject Of clean hab-
its Offering greatest resistance. the IN