Evening star., 1934-02-07
j. S. WARS ON RAT
FEVER CARRIERS
Men Armed to Battle Ro'
dents in Three South
ern States.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY lhoNAS n. 1GNhI. !
The biggest war on rats in history I
has been started by the Government. !
The rats of three States are facing !
an offensive of 10000 men armed !
with nearly a million traps and tons ,
Of poison. The object is to elm
mate the rodents over large areas OF
Texas. Alabama and Georgia.
The immediate object is to stop
the spread of endemic typhus fever.
an American disease closely similar
to the we'll known European typhus
which has been a ScOurge OF crowded
communities for centuries. This NAL
ady has increased fOurfOld during
the last Il years, especially in these
three States In 1921 only 332 cases
were reported. During the first nine
months of 1888. for which statistics
are available, there were 1915 cases,
showing that the fever was breaking
away from control measures, with the
lurking threat of a widespread cpl
dernic
The source of endemic typhus con-
tagion was first established by the
Public Health Service in 1929, with
experiments on rats captured about
Baltimore warehouses. in a district
where the disease had been prevalent.
Hitherto the disease had been con-
fused with the European fever which
is usually spread by body lice in
army camps, jails and crowded slums.
The Public Health Service doctors
found that the American form, which
often broke out in sanitary homes.
was spread by rat fleas. that the fleas
transmitted the virus from rat to rat
and that fleas who fed on the in
fected rats gave it to humans. Since
then Department Of Agriculture sci
entists have found it may also be
transmitted by common mite which
1nfeSts rats.
c. w. A. Labor Used.
The freeing of three States of rats
Is a Joint project of the Public Health
Service and the Department Of Agrl-
culture. using c. w. A labor. Not
only will the animals be trapped and
poisoned, but SO far as possible their
places of refuge will be destroyed and
buildings "rat-p t-prCofed." according to
the Biological Survey formula. All
sorts Of rodents will be destroyed but
the especial drive is against the COM
mon house or Norway rat. which is
the most important vector of the
disease. Only by such wholesale
operation, it is believed, can much
progress be made against so prolific
and ubiquitous animal which accom-
panies civilized man the world over.
Thirteen carloads of traps, 100000
in all, are being sent into the district.
Bids have been opened on 355 600
more. Rat infested areas will be lit
orally covered with these traps. The
wholesale poisoning project. for which
$4,000 pounds Of poison have been
made available, previously would have
been impossible, because of the dan
ger to other animals and humans
1t Is now made possible through the
development, a few years ago. of
preparation known as red squill,"
which Is deadly to rats but perfectly
harmless to man, domestic animals
and most wild animals A child could
eat it without any i'll effects, but a
very small amount is rapidly fatal to
the rat
Harmless to Humans.
Red squill is made from the bulbs
OF a member of the lily family COM
mon along the shores of the Mediter-
ranean. 1t was developed as a poison
They tried it on other domestic ami
mails after proving that it was highly
toxic to rats and found it had no bad
effects. They were still uncertain
whether 1t might not poison human
beings To test this possibility, they
ate it themselves in greater quantities
than any one would be likely to swal
low accidentlly and found that they
survived without any painful symp-
toms.
Biological Survey scientists will ac-
lively superintend the trapping and
poisoning Of the rats, while the Pub
lie Health Service doctors will attend
to the public health side Of the pro-
gram. The fight against these man.
nal-inSect carried diseases. a COM
paratively new class of fevers which
has come into prominence in the past
few years, now is one of their major
problems. They include the dreaded
spotted fever. Endemic typhus is
milder malady than the European
typhus, but still it has mortality rate
of Is to 35 per cent when it breaks
out in areas of under-nourishment
and crowded conditions.
The tri-State war may later be car
eied to other parts Of the country i
the supply of c. w. A. workers con-
tinues in an effort to rid the whole
country Of rats. 1t Is estimated that
the Norway rat alone-Which may
have been brought to North America
on the open ships Of the Norsemen-
causes an annual damage in the
United States of approximately $780,
600 900, or close to 50 per person.