PLAGUE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 20

PLAGUE

OUTBREAK IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

SYDNEY, January 5. Consternation has been caused at Clarence river (about 300 miles north of Sydney) by an outbreak of plague. Rats have been dying in large numbers for some time, but it was not definitely ascertained that the cause was plague until the deaths of a man named Plummer and his wife occurred. This latter event led to a careful examination being made. Young Plummer is ill, and another patient is in the Clarence river hospital. He was brought from Ulmarra (on the Clarence river). Precautions are being taken. Reports received by the Board of Health regarding the outbreak at Clarence river state that local doctors are convinced that at least one case is of true plague. The Board of Health to-day despatched officers to investigate. Meantime, the local authorities are taking every precaution. They have quarantined the hospital and the homes of the patients.

Besides the Plummers—who it was at first supposed succumbed to heat apoplexy—two other recent deaths are now believed to have resulted from plague. The discovery of the outbreak was made through one of tlie two patients now under treatment undergoing an operation for appendicitis. Examination disclosed plague bacillus. The health authorities consider that there is no cause for alarm at the outbreak. They declare that Sydney is free of any trace of the disease. Their opinion is that the infection came from Brisbane. SYDNEY, January 6. Owing to the outbreak of plague at Clarence river, vessels arriving from there are not allowed at the wharf, and are compelled to discharge in the stream. BRISBANE, January 6. It transpires that a youth died of plague at South Brisbane last Sunday,,