Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-13
HOW AN INFECTED
VESSELS Treated
U. S. Public Health Service Of
ficers Have a Good System
Nowadays.

WITCH oil iulcCScU VESSEL diil'Vo a. eA
American port she is visited imme.
diately by officers of the United
States public health service who, al.
ter determining the status of the ship,
endeavor first to expedite the landing
of mails, and next to separate the
passengers and crew who have not
been exposed to infection in order
that they may not be needlessly de-
tanned.
The sick are removed to comfort
able and specially adapted hospitals
at he United States quarantine sta
tions under the public health service,
and those persons who have. not yet
sickened but who have been exposed
to infection are put into comfortable
quarters to undergo detention for the
period of incubation of plague, which
is seven days. That is to say, if a
person has been exposed to plague
and does not show the disease in sew
en- days he is pronounced free from
infection and allowed to leave the
quarantine station.
s Vessel Fumigated.
While the sick and other passen-
gers are being removed, in order to
a v time to the vessel, the latter is
fumigated for the purpose of Destroy
ing rats, through which the disease
plague is transmitted. This process
requires only twenty-four hours OF
time, and at some of the quarantine
stations special steamers are fitted
with special apparatus which enables
the process of fumigation to be per-
formed in less than six hours. After
fumigation the vessel proceeds to the
dock to unload.
.Tlst compare the procedure above
outlined with the ordeal which a YES
sci had to undergo in the sixteenth
century. In those days many of the
quarantine stations had anchOrages
for vessels and barracks for suspects
and convalescents just as they have
today, but in order to give an idea
of the m in which they used
those facilities it would be interesting
TO relate what happened to a Cata-
Ian ship that arrived at Palermo from
Barcelona on the way to Naples.
The vessel in question had ninety
seven persons aboard, eighteen OF
them passengers. Three seamen and
two passengers had died of a disease
suspected of being plague. The deaths
occurred while the vessel was taking
On cargo in the harbor where she lay
at anchor. The cargo consisted Of
barrels of sailed fish, cases Of sugar
destined for Palermo, and already
unloaded and in the warehouse) salt
ed cheese, salt in bulk, a quantity Of
srma.c, and general merchandise, in.
o1,,1i-~ ho1oe nc ol0fh fvoro Qarno10no
a port not under suspicion. The mas
ter Of the vessel Vas first required to
give an enormous bond as security
that he would not leave the harbor
until given pratique, and to make his
'eave still more difficult, the rudder
was removed from the ship and a
watch set. All persons, except the
sick and sufficient seamen 10 guard
the ship, were sent ashore. where all
garments were taken from them, and
they themselves exposed to the fumes
of boiling pitch and afterward washed
with vinegar. Some of the clothing
was burned, and some was washed,
aired and perfumed for fifty days.
The sick were sent to a laZaretto, and
the cargo was treated as follows:
The barrels of salt fish we're wash
ed outside, first with sea water and
then with vinegar. The cases of SUI
gar, sailed cheese and sumac had their
coverings removed and burned, and
the commodities without further
treatment we're delivered to the own
ers. Merchandise was aired and per-
fumed for fifty days, and the cloth
fabrics were unrolled and hung from
the rigging of the ship for fifty days.
The sails and cordage of the ship
were taken down, submerged in the
sea for a week, and then hung from
the masts, yards, and booms in the
air, sun and dew, by day and night,
as long as the ship remained in quar-
antine. The ship was then fumigated
with boiling pitch in caldrons be-
tween decks.