Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-08
I8 STRICKEN
WITH PLAGUE
SAN FRANCISCO HOPES TO STAMP
OUT DISEASE
WAR ON RATS is DECLARED
THROUGHOUT CITY
Board Of Health Has Resigned, Owing
to Inability to Agree-Govern-
ment Expert Will Direct
Sanitary Affairs
b. Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. lone add
tional case of bubonic plague was charte'
today by the board of health and tou
more suspects have been isolated ana ar
under observation. The board mas AZ
thorized the establishing of temporar.
hospital camp at Ingleside. @Ihence TN
inmates of the city and county nospltall
will be removed and the latter buildings
which are old frame structures long as'
condemned will be burned.
Brs. McConkey, Harvey, Manning
Power and President Simons, composing
the board of health, have submitted tneil
designations to Mayor Taylor and II Il
understood that their successors Will p'
appointed next week. Dissension in Tho
board as to the advisability of certain
measures proposed for the eradication OF
the plague and feeling on the part o.
at least one member that the new mayor
should have opportunity to appoint
board of his own choice, actuated the
designations.
The board, at a meeting today attended
by President Ragensberger of the state
board of health and Col. Austin OF tne
marine hospital service, adopted report
of the plague situation prepared Dy ieaIth
officer watkins. 1t is in part and SUD-
stance as follows:
To Silence AIarmists
because alarnnist reports which are
ur,warranted by the facts regarding the
public health of San Francisco have ap-
reared in the public prints of other cities,
it is deemed expedient to give out OIL
cialIy a statement of the facts which have
been from the first visible on the bulletin
board of the central health office
1.-THE first case of bubonic plague ap-
peared on May 27 at the United states
marine hospital, the victim being FIN
nish sailor taken from the tug wizard.
Thereafter no cases appeared in the city
until August 70, when two cases were re-
uorted from the North Beach district
..Immediately the officials of all hos
pitals and dispensaries were warned 10
be on the lookout for similar cases, with
the result that to date eighteen authentic
cases in all have been reported. or these
eighteen cases nine are still living and
in a fair way to recover.
"There EXISTS today no doubt OF the
cause of the so-called bubonic plague, nor
of the means by which it may be eradi-
Gated Wherever international commerce
exists and in proportion to the volume OF
the commerce, the rat and the diseases
of the rat. one of which is plague, are
bound to appear. There are said to be
some five varieties of rat flea, of which
two will bite men. The plague basillus
is transmitted by the flea of these two
varieties to men. Other modes of infec-
tion exist. but are very much less fire.
quent.
Rats Are Numerous
s',rhe common rat is said to propagate
every five weeks, and thrives in proper
tfon as it's surroundings are unsanitary.
AS a consequence of the unusual condi-
tions which have obtained in San Fran
cisco since the fire, rats have propa-
gated to an unusual degree
.sThe problem which confronts the
health authorities, then, is plain and pre-
sents no insurmountable difficulties.
SANITARY nuisances< must be abated and
rats caught or poisoned. 1t is proposed
to go about getting these results in the
following ways, which proved highly ef-
fective here in stamping out the similar
outbreak of the disease several years ago.
s.Every vessel which leaves or enters
a California port is fumigated with sui
phur. AS a result no rat which enters
ship in San Francisco or elsewhere,
leaves it alive. The lines which make
fast the vessels to the wharves are fitted
with rat guards.
Care of Patients
sFWhen a person presents the symptoms
of plague he is at once removed to the
isolation pavilions. The room previously
occupied is rendered air-tight and fumi-
gated with sulphur, then washed and
sprayed with carbollc acid solution The
contents of the room are burned. The
rest of the house is similarly disinfected.
The names of all persons residing there
are taken, also of all persons who had
come into intimate contact with the pa
tient, in order that they may be kept
under medical supervision during the fol-
lowing ten days, the period in which the
disease if present would make its ap-
pearance.
'When deemed wise the place of habi-
tation, if a shack, is destroyed by fire.
Many such -shacks are maintained in de-
fiance of the law, and 1t is the intention
10 destroy all of them which lie within
the boards jurisdiction.
''All rats caught or found dead are
ticketedi and microscopically examined.
When plague infection is found, the place
and locality from which the rodent came
is at once subjected to sanitary attack.
For this purpose the city has been dis
tricted and officered.
sat the international congress Of
physicians at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1906,
It was declared that the safeguarding of
communities against plague should be
an international function. Recognizing
the validity of this opinion the mayor of
San Francisco requested the federal gov
ernment ito assume control of the situa-
ton here. This request has been granted" :"
DR. Rupert Blue OF the marine hospital
service and authority OH plague eradica-
tions, who has had charge of the SANTA
ton of the jamestown exposition, will
arrive here from Washington next Tues
day or Wednesday and assume official
charge.