The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-27
His Way The Rat ProhIam Of C;fiar

From the Journal of the American AIedf-
 cal Association.
 The connection between rats and plague has led to the accumulation of informa- ton regarding the frequency of their as- sociation with human habitations, as well as their destructiveness Studies have been made which throw light on the ques- tion of the number of parasites which have been permitted through carelessness to exist in the immediate neighborhood of man. Until these comparatively re- cent Investigations, scarcely anyone would have believed how large a number of rodents find means of livelihood for themselves In our cities and towns, es- rpecialIy those which have a series of docks and wharves. A special report Eof plague eradication work at New Or leans. made by the surgeon in charge of the United States public health service work at that point, contains rather start lingiy ilIuminating facts concerning these parasites.
 The total number of rodents captured up to November 13 of the past year runs up to 497,9SS. Some idea of the immense labor and the meticulous care required for thoroughness in sanitary work may be gathered from the fact that over SO0,- co 0of these rodents had been examined up to the same date, and, though alto gether only 266 cases of rodent plague were discovered, 1t is easy to understand how much of danger for the dissemina- ton of the disease those animals were. Until the actual report, it would have been almost impossible to believe that a city like New Orleans, with it's half million rodents, actually harbored d larg- CT population of rats and mice than it did of human beings.
 New Orleans is probably no worse in this regard than most of the coast cities of the southern part of the country at least, and 1t is probably that as careful a hunt for the creatures would reveal their presence in proportionate numbers even in many of the towns of the interior It IS scarcely necessary to call attention to the fact that this immense number of parasites, which so often get at food ma terials, constitute distinct danger not alone as regards plague. though their di- rect connection with human diseases has been traced only with this great scourge. It is almost needless to say, too, that when existing in such immense numbers they are eminently destructive directly and indirectly, and represent one factor In the waste of food materials which makes for want in this country and is adding to the high cost of living Un- doubtedly what is taken to feed these rodents. or what is thrown out and serves them for sustenance. would keep from serious want many human family that feels the pinch of lowered nutrition
 Coast cities like New Orleans San Francisco, Seattle and some of the other towns on Puget Sound have been com pe'led to take up the problem of oblitera- tion of their rodent parasites by the oc- currence of plague. The Journal of the American Medical Association thinks, however, that it would be well worth while. for health authorities in other towns and cities to face this problem frankly before 1t becomes a source of actual immediate danger to health, be- cause there is no doubt that the pres ence of these pests is extremely insani- tary in many ways besides being seri- Cusly wasteful. If 1t should prove that the rodent population of most of our towns and cities, as in the case of New Orleans, was nearly if not quite as num- erous as the human population, the sig nifcance and urgent imortance of this problem would be readily understood.