THE BUBONIC PLAGUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 23

THE BUBONIC PLAGUE.

.- " -- -v ♦ ■.. ■ ONE FftESH CASE IN SYDNEY. TIFTY DEATHS UP TO DATE. .^PRECAUTIONS IN DUNEDIN. JTVE iRRESH CASES IN SYDNEY/ {FOUR FRESH CASES IN SYDNEif. TWO FRESH 'CASES AT SYDNEY. AN INFECTED RAT IN QUEENSLAND. A PATIENT ISOLATED AT AUCKLAND. - ■SE-VJ3N !FKESH CASES IN - SYDNEY. TWO CASES 'IN QUEENSLAND. THE SUSPICIOUS CASE IN AUCKLAND. y .THREE FRESH CASES .IN - SYDNEY. FIFTY-THREE TDEATHS j TO -DATE. THE PLAGUE IN QUEENSLAND. SYDNEY, April 24."

'Up to noon 140 cases of plague had "been - recorded. Xhere -were 50 deaths. In one of yesterday's, cases at a restaurant in tthe .city r IOO contacts -have been sent into quarantine. A fresh case -of plague to-day— a man naaned -Bnman — died 'before his -removal to quarantine. - -M'Carthy, a patient, died in quarantine. "•; Fourteen patients will be discharged to(morrow cured. This makes 27 who have recovered. -„ ,Mr Lyne, .replying to- a parliamentary^ ■ deputation, .promised- to take" steps 1,0 'resume .the, wharves in. Darling Harbour, , and' create ,harbouf trust. J1 ' ; "' . '■ *";• ; , - ■ April 25. - .Five fresh cases of J)lague are reported tq-day. ". * •Th% names -'of to-day's fresh eases J are; Fred. Norrie, of Bedfern ; Timothy Maher, who has died at -a hotel in Sussex street; a child named . -Branch, who died in itshome,; Fred. Gasman, of Wavarley; Ellie -George, "living at ' Guildf ord, (and employed in the city. Sixteen patients have been removed from the hospital to a convalescent ward. ~ ... ' " April 26. 'The fresh cases of plague are : W. Jones, Surry Hills ; Florrie Young, "Balmain ; Foo' .Kong, 'Castlereagh street ; Henry Fussell, taken ill 'in ihe street. No : fresh cases of plague at .Noumea have been reported since March 23. April 27. The fresh cases are : — J. Smith, Pad- " dington ; W. Evans, Redfern. The death of iFlorence Young -has occurred in quarantine. Owing to the small catches, the "Go-. ■vernment -has increased the . capitation .for rats 'from 'twopence to sixpence. •' • ; ".April -28. ' - 1 jChe following ".fresh -cases- of plague - are reported T^nrJohn 'Boyd,-",'Paddingiorr; SarahO'Connell, Balmain ;. iPeter Motis, -^Kingstreet. . , . The fresh cases to-day are : — Mrs White--head, guest at the Grosvenor Hotel ;. Alf. Sheaves, Wavefley ; Sam Scott, cabin boy an a -vessel lying in the -harbour. Henry Rodesta, residing near Liverpool/ leveloped plague after an Easter visit to Sydney. A parcel .of Zersin's .curative serum from the Pasteur -Institute, when opened, was found to contain less than one dose. It is .supposed that by- a mistake only a museum sample 'OTs forwarded -instead of the expected larger quantity. April 30. There -.has been a boom in .the delivery of rats since the bonus was increased. - The plagne has practically been stamped ' " out at "Honolulu. There were no cases for a fortnight prior to the Warrimoo's sail_ing. ,All vessels for America are getting clean bills. Up -date 159 cases of plague have occurred in Sydney, and there have been 63 deaths." -;. ' TEe fresh cases of plague to-day are : — Phristqplier jkargetfcs, Grl,ebe ; Alice Nowra, jEtedfern. *A niew area has been quarantined, includes the western side of George ' street from Goulbourn -to .Hay street. - f Aifresh case is that of Jonathan Davidson, Darlington. BRISBANE, April .27. < .A ,rat .died from plague under the State •S<?hpw;at Kangaroo Poinj. .'„

<BgaHfc^«rattßgMStt«aßßEaiaaaaaMs^taMggnaaßigi»^^ April 28. Drevison, a drayman, engaged on the -■wharf , has been seized with the jplague. A case is also reported on board the Cintra, at Townsville. ._ April 30. ■ , A man named Bishop has developed plague sym-ptoms at New JFarm. The Government has officially .notified the other Governments of the prevalence of The capitation for rats has been increased to" sixpence. ADELAIDE, April 30. The doctor who was sent ,to Sydney to study the plague declares that the supposed cases in .Adelaide were not plague. A SUSPICIOUS CASE IN AUCKLAND. AUGKLAND, April 27. - A child, ten years old, was "received at the hospital suffering from inflammation caused by the bite o"f a. rat early last week. The inflammation is believed to be sympathetic, but the authorities have thought it advisable to isolate' the case. "" _, | This afternoon Dr Mason -and Mr Gilruth inoculated seven storemen employed by the Harbour 'Board with Haifkine's prophylactic. Wellington; April 27. Dr Fyffe has reported i;o"".he Colonial Secre- j tary on the insanitary condition of certain j Chinese premises :in molesworth street, and urged that they should be burned. Be refers to, ihe dwellings of Asiatics in the vicinity ,of Fraser's lane as a nidus for disease, and says that the'habits of the occupiers appear to be in -keeping with. their dwellings. The Hon. Mr-W.ard gives an emphatic denial I ta.-a report of ~£kej capture 'of any plague- j stricken rats. .No-sucti report Has reached- the _ Health, department.' • -i AUCKLAND, .April ' 28. The Premier 'conferred with the Governor on .the matter this morning.. 'His" Excellency ' stated he -was "disheartened '-at -the lack of I energy shown by the" city authorities. "He intended 'sending" his family away from Auck- • land, and stated 'that unless the city were put in a more sanitary state he would not reside in it in future. WELLINGTON, April 28. : Referring to the boy avho was bitten, by a rat in Atickland, Dr Mason and Mr Gilruth -^ I telegraphed to the 'Colonial Secretary : "We examined material from the pustules, and it disclosed organisms which rendered the case almost certain as one of the milder forms of bubonic plague. The boy has been isolated, , and the proper authorities have been notified , that it is a suspicious^ case." i April 20. ! At a meeting -of tlie Central Board of Health, the Colonial Secretary stated that -if any council neglects to comply with any recommendation of -the commissioners, or delays compliance, the proposal will be carried , out by order of the Government, even if Parliament has >to *be appealed to subsequently to -confirm ..the action of the authorities. The- Government will also protect municipalities in giving effect to the commissioners' 'recommendations. The Crown law officers advise that four days' notice>is sufficient to give'liouse-owners to demolish condemned buildings. At .a meeting of ,the Public Works Committee of the City Council an 'influential de- ' putation attended -urging that the proposal ! not to allow -poultry .to be -kept within the i city, boundary be 'rescinded.- The • committee,"! by-T-yotesto 5,- decided to adhere-to its fqrmer j .decision/ This will be subject 'to ., ccrifirma-, ' tion by the council on Thursday. •] '' " "OHRISTCHtrRCH, April 30. - ! A rat, which was killed at Lytfcelton, and I which was supposed to exhibit suspicious ] symptoms, was examined by Dr'Syme3 this! afternoon. He reports that the rat is not affected by plague. ; TIMARU, April 30. The Borough Council to-night resolved to appoint two inspectors, to pay -4s a dozen for j rats, and to provide poison for free distribu- | tion, and appointed a committee to look ] for a suitable site ,for a plague hospital, and ! arrange 'for canvas structures and attendants, etc., should the necessity arise. It was estimated that the cost of such arrangements would be about J6500. Notice was given to move that scavengering be taken in hand by the council. ■CFbomxOto Owx'Coehesponbent,) . .AUCKLAND, April 28. The boy who is suspected of having the plague, and who has been isolated in consequence, resided a few hundred yards from the hospital, and if the case develops the plague, it goesto show that plague rats have travelled from the wharf on© mile and a-half up town to the suburbs. A rat was in the boy's bedToom, and jumped on to his bed. He caught it by the tail, when it turned and bit him." The rat was not secured. A further examination of the boy will be 'made by the doctors to-morrow, in order to decide definitely on the developments of the case. There is 'just a possibility of its being of blood poisoning from -"the bite of-aivrcious.rat, but all present appearances go to show the probability of its being a case of iplague. April -30. - THe Premier addressed the members of the Hospital and Charitable Aid .Board to-day. He said that, knowing the seriousness of the situation had alone caxtsed-hinvto^remain 30 Jong in Auckland this time, he felt that something ought to be done, and' he wished "to see it definitely in shape before' he lefl4he'city.%t W£§ J2&& -Wgfet 'days sinee 'fchi Qommjgsion.-

i er3 had reported that certain buildings -were insanitary, and that was followed by the case of the, rat killed on the wharf. That was eight days ago, and yet little had been done. If £1 pc - * rat was paid for affected rats it would be cheap for the citizens. True, ; a penny per head was paid, but there was no i careful provision as to how the rats- should be conveyed to the desteuctor. In fact, they j were allowed lo be carried any how, thus giving ample opportunity for the spread of . plague. The most serious part of the matter was that now they had the case of a boy bitten by -a lat right in the centre of the city, and there was very little doubt from what j the medical men -said that it was a case of i plague. He might tell them at once that if proper provision was not made it would be the duty of ihe Government to declare Auck- . land an infected district, and auy person com- ] ing from -this cil-y would not be allowed to I go to other parts of the' colony without being quarantined. He would-be very leluctant to ■ adopt such a course, but it would be quite ab proper a thing -to do in the intere&ts of the rest of the colony as it was to quarantine peo- ' pie after a five days' voyage from Sydney. In tire interests of humanity, something, would have to be done, but 'he wanted to prevent , such a course. So sure as he was Premier of the colony, unless decided action was taken, the Government would have no alternative but 'to do as -he had indicated. He had no doubt all the members of 'the local 'bodies were anxious to grapple with the matter, but there was the question of cost to be faced. Still, thsy had the machinery. It might, perhaps, be deficient, and they might have" to, take steps that "had not been provided for by existing laws ; but in such a juncture he was sure that public opinion would support the, action that wasmecessarj'. If legislation was, wanted to validate what was done, he .was" quite sure the- House would, pass it. -Now as , ..to insanitary -dwellings, eight days ago some t had been condemned, yet they, still remained. , r He simply said ''there were" buildings in Auckland that _were*not fit-, for humat? beings -to live in, and that, too, within 100 yards of. one. of the principal - hotels. He had seen some . jof the worst slums 'in the old country, but he had seen nothing worse than these. The ' , buildings" will -be destroyed, 'but how is not; yet decided He, however, blamed the -coun- " ci] for riot having taken sbeps regarding the insanitary dwellings. They would probably . tell him they had made their calculations for* a year, and had no means to meet extraordi- , nary expenditure. He thought the bank would -under the circumstances give an advance, but if it would not then- it would He his duty as Premier to u-ecommeud the Minister to advaiice the necessary money and charge it against future subsidies. *■■ - I WELLINGTON, April 27. " j ,In reierence to the handling of rats that-are-suspected of having died from plague, Mr Gilruth states that anyone who finds a dead' rat, even if .lie thinks- it has been poisoned.' should not touch it with his hands, but should , pour 'boiling -water over it, handle it with a pair of tongs, and put into a solution of-car-1 bolic acid sr other disinfectant in order to -destroy the ".fleas' oi" other means of contamination. The carcases, if not sent 'for examina- . tion, should 1 be at. v once -cremated. Mice also' take Ihe plague, and even cats occasionally by eating contaminated rodents, so that all these animals require careful supervision. AUCKLAND'S INFECTED RAT. The Hon. J.'-'G. Ward received on Monday] j last -a communication from v Mr J. A. Gilruth' (Government 'baoteriologist, dated Auckland, i April 21, respecting the plague-infected rat i found in that city. 'Mr 'Gilrutb says:— "ilt i (the, rat) was fouijd crawling^ in a weak condi-' j .tion along -the floor of the^left outer tee-df, j the -wharf , -where it .was kicked and,,so-Iri_lled | 'by the'lumpars.^. This was in the earlyjmorn-' f ing., I reeeive'd the animal shortly after 2 fp.m., and was able to make a post mortem. To the naked eye the suspicious circumstanceswere a Jtmbo in the region of the left shoulder, /enlarged liver and enlarged and blackened ; spleen. Microscopical examination of the material from .the bubo .showed enormous num- . bers of bacilli similar to those of plague. i These bacilli were also found, though in less j numbers, in the spleen, liver, and blood. We j [Dr Mason and Mr Gilruth] visited the wharf i and arranged for that porbion of it on which, 1 the rat was killed (including the cargo which j had been deposited there) to be isolated ; the j erection of a barricade ; the edare of the wharf | to be wire-nebted to below eea level, and that' portion of the wharf already mentioned to be divided by Avire netting in order to prevent the rats going from section to section. We also arranged for fumigation for thirty-six-hours by means of "sulphur fumes of all the , sheds on that side of the wharf:, and ordered | that the main portion of the wharf be barriI caded to prevent the passage of-rats from the j wharf to the streets of the 'city, and that no j one *afc all should be admitted to the .wharf I during the night. A barricade of iron hasi accordingly been erected. The three men vho t had handled or touched the suspected rafc'it ! was decided to completely isolate, and they are now being 'kept under supervision in one of the sheds of the wharf." THE BUBONIC TTLEA. In an 'article in a leading English, medical journal, just out from England, is given an account of experiments rnadein Paris recently with, rat fleas and human fleas by "leading medical men, plague specialists, and distinguished -scientists. They proved that the human flea and'the rat flea were of a different species ; that a rat flea will not bite a human being, and that human .fleas will not live .onrats. The doctors and their colleaguee expefi'inented with the fleas"up6n themselves, . and^ ■after m&qh i R?%A»© BmiwmzAQ^'£hs&

satisfied themselves that rat fleas would nol bite them. They tried bubonic fleas from bubonic rats, and healthy fleas from healthy rats, but could not get a bite out of any pi them. The human fleas would not stay on the rats, but they bit all the experimenters every time they were tried. The fearful may, therefore, rest assured, thinks an Australian contemporary, that the bubonic flea has nc liking for human blood. On the other hand, Dr Thompson, president of the Sydney Board of Health, stated the other day -that there Tver c four patients in quarantine who had become infected by fleas, and that fact justified him in saying that the infection of the disease -resided in rats, and that by means of fleas it was communicated from rats to the people. He therefore urged that unceasing v.'ar should bs waged against rats. PRECAUTIONS IN THE CITY. On Saturday the following reply was "seni by his Worship the Mayor to the telegrams received by him from the Colonial Secretary re the sanitation of the city: — "As I am convinced that a thorough system of drainage expeditiously carried out is the only effectual remedy to adopt in abating the nuisance reported to you, and which you refer in your telegrams to me yesterday, and as such a system necessarily implies the inclusion of, all the suburban boroiighs around Dunedin, I si.ncer.ely trust that your Government will, with a view to expediting matters, immediately on" Parliament assembling, push through the Local Drainage Board Bill or your own Municipal Bill, thus giving us statutory powers to at once deal satisfactorily with the whole matter. Rest assured that in the meantime all necessary steps have been taken to make the sanitary condition of our city as perfect as possible." The Mayor received the following reply from the Colonia 1 Secretary on Saturday 'night: — "J. feel sure that all that is pos sible will be done by yourself and citizens in the interests of the sanitation of the city, and I shall personally be glad to co-operate as far as lies in my power to effect a solution by legislation that will admit of the best results being obtained in the interests of your city. — (Signed) J. 6. Waed." The increased price for rats offered by the City Council has induced several parties to undertake the -work of 'destraction, and the Gasworks' officers are now 'receiving the pests at the rate of a couple of hundred a day. Up to Saturday afternoon 632 vas the number that had been paid for. The many friends of Mr Arthur, Ross, who has been suffering "from 'the bubonic plague for the past few clays in Sydnej', will be pleased to hear that the Bank of New Zealand received a cablegiam to-day from their Sydney manager to the effect that he is now recovering, and reported out of danger. Over 100 -rats were received at the ' City Corporation gasworks . yesterday, the total number taken there up .to the present being 769. At ilFriday's" meeting of the Bluff Harbour Board a letter from the Union Company was 'read, which 'tated that .the chief cause of the' company's ■ steamers passing -the Bluff portHvasT the absence of a.propei quarantine station there, and,, in a lesser degree, -the " anxiety of the passengers to- reach their destination, which could he done more quickly if the vessels were quarantined at "Port Clial--mers, weighed with them. The "board decideS tr -ask the Government 'to provide a quarantine station &s early as possible. Spencer Island was mentioned, as suitable .-for the purpose.