The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-08
DANGER or PLAGUE = INFECTION FROM RATS
xxowaem TexrOrixed and women &As
 Children Bitten.

u.,.em TerrOrised and Women ene
 Children Bitten.
 An important bulletin or tne Depe,l
 ment of Agriculture. issued recently
 declares that the rat is the worst man mahan pest known to man, its depre- dations throughout the world result . ing in losses amounting to hundreds or millions of dollars annually; but these losses. great as they are, are or iess 'nl nortance than the fact that rats carry from house to house, and from seapor. :. to seaport. the germs of the dreadeo plague The bubonic plague or | ..plague" as 1t has been known for cen turies. Is the most insidious and most | tenacious of all epidemic diseases. and one of the ancient discoveries in rela- tion to the disease was that visita- tion of the plague in man was always preceded by an epizootic In rats. The mortality from the bubonic plague mas l been greater than from any other so-
 called plague. and when once It taxes | hold. which 1t does after sporadic ap- pearances of the disease covering sev- eral years, it spreads with awful inten- l sity. The British authorities report l. l 400. 900 cases in India alone In 1907, | and of these cases only 100000 sur
 vived.
 Until 6 comparatively recent date
 the disease has not been known In Am0rtCH, AuHlKbnh ON JOhth 6AAASos hut it first apeared in San Francisco in 1900, and each year thereafter spo- radically, until in 1907 the number of
 deaths attributable to this disease be- came SO large as to attract attention and to impress upon the people or San Francisco the necessity of drastic
 methods of eradication.
 When the cause of the spread of the
 disease was directly traced to infected rats brought into this country from in- fected ports, and the disease carried from the rats through the rat fiea.
 which preys upon the human being when the rat has died, the entire pop ualtion of San Francisco set about Co drive out the rats in a manner not only highly creditabie to the city. but with results for which the whole nation
 should be thankful for had the disease
 been allowed to get hrmer hold in
 San Francisco, 1t would have spread in time over the entire country.
 Tn January of 1908 when the campaign against rats was vigorously inaugural ed, no less than twenty physicians and TOO inspectors and men were employed.
 It is interesting to note what the peo- pie of San Francisco accomplished in their campaign. Of the 5.229 stables in San Francisco. according to the reports of the Goverpment officers. 90 per cent were made rat proof by ce- mentinE floors and correcting sewer connections. The health officers caused the condemnation of 493 houses, de- stroyed l,718, and disinfected II, ,342. Two hundred and seventy-six thous- and square feSt of concrete sidewalks were laid, and 1t is estimated that not less than 4.s30.00o sQuere feet of con- crete were put in bssenents and sub floor spaces. Together with the con- crete laid in stables and chicken yards, where the rats were particularly nu- merous, the total area made rat proof by concrete Aapproxtmated e.bOO,OOe
 square feet. Wherever the plague was
 found in a rat or man. horde of rat catchers descended on that place and trapped every rat for four blocks around to prevent the hunted animals from carrying the infection further. As a result of this campaign it Ia estimated that no less than 1,OO0OOO
 rats were exterminated in San Fran isco in less than two years.
 This experience in San Francisco and
 A similar experience in Queensland.
 New Zealand in 1907. whore like meth- ods were employed to get rid of the
 rats in an effort. culminating in suc- cess, to check the spread of this hide ous plague, clearly indicates the nec-
 essity of stringent methods for eradi-
 eating rats in all cities, and particu-
 larly in congested communities. since
 1t is claimed by authorities that a pair
 of rats left alone to breed will within
 A year produce 800 rats.
 In New York attention was recently drawn to the prevalence Of rats