MANCHURIAN PLAQUE OUTBREAK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1195, 2 August 1911, Page 5

MANCHURIAN PLAQUE OUTBREAK.

. 4 IDENTIFIED WITH MARMOT DISEASE. Bj Tolecrnph-Pre" AornrlnMon-RopyrteAl. (Rec. August i, 11 p.m.)

St. Petersburg, August 1. The Russo-Chinese expedition to investigate the 'recent outbreak of plaguo in Manchuria has identified the disease with the marmot disease. - Plague among the marmots is not extensive, and thero is no cause for alarm. COURSE OF THE EPIDEMIC. The plague first made its appearance in Manchuria early in November last. It differs considerably'from the bubonic, plague common in India, aud is more deadly. Whereas bubonic plague is propagated by rat fleas, pneumonic plague is attributed. to the parasites of tho barlagan, a species of largo marmot which is hunted tor its fur in North Manchuria and Siberia. The epidemic of pneumonic plague ("Black Death") which reached England in 1665 is said to have originated in Mongolia, possibly from this same animal. •••■'.' The extreme cold of the Manchurian winter—tho temperature is often about lOdeg. Fahr. below zero—favoured tho spread of tho disease. ■ Disinfecting apparatus was rendered almost useless. The lungs, which the bacilli attacks, were weakened by Ihe low temperature, and were thus less prepared for resistance. And on account of the great cold the infected furs and clothing of the victims were commonly stolen as soon as life was extinct. The corpses in the stricken towns were left naked in tho streets and were eaten by dogs and birds. Harbin and Mukden were the ' chief hotbeds of the epidemic. The mortality was practically 100 per cent., and recent cabled advices gave the total mortality during the outbreak as 190,000. Many English and other doctors volunteered to work in the stricken towns. Dr. Jackson, of Liverpool; ■ Dr. Mesny, a Frenchman, and a number of Russian medical students succumbed.