Plague in the South by Will S. Spicer

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 25, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 33.

Plague in the South

By Will S. Spicer

IT is not long since general alarm was felt on the Pacific coast because of the occurrence of a few cases of black plague in some of the ports, and its spread from the rats, by means of which it was imported, to the native ground-squirrel. This infection has disappeared, or become latent; but now the country is attacked from a new side, that is, at New Orleans.

Two cases were reported about June 28, one of them proving fatal. Thirteen human cases and twelve infected rats were discovered up to July 26. Immediately after the discovery of the first cases, most rigorous quarantine measures were invoked. A campaign of rat extermination on the largest scale ever attempted in this country was begun, and this and other measures were placed in charge of Surgeon-General Rupert Blue, of the United States army and the national health service. The condition of the city had not been the best from a sanitary standpoint, and a general clean-up was ordered. The infected districts were quarantined, and surrounded by a rat-proof fence. The federal and state health offices rushed their best talent to the scene. Rat-proofing of all the buildings in the city, and a general screening of all places of food storage, was undertaken, and stringent regulations as to the disposal of garbage were passed.

Quarantine regulations against New Orleans, as well as against the ports of Cuba, where a few cases have been reported, were put in force in New York.

The source of the infection is a mystery. Special precautions against typhus and yellow fever were taken by the officers of the federal health service; but in some way, this worse infection passed the quarantine defenses.

It is gratifying to note that no further cases have been reported lately.

WILL S. SPICER.